Safeway Stores, Incorporated v. Mildred Murphy

Appellee, Mildred Murphy, entered appellant’s store to do some shopping. The floors had been freshly waxed the night before. Appellee slipped and fell and sustained serious injuries. She sued and the jury returned a verdict awarding her damages in the sum of $36,500. The question presented to us for decision is bottomed upon the contention that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict.

The trial court in ruling on a motion for a new trial expressed the view that the law of the case had been established as that of the so-called California rule which recognizes that the establishment of a slipping fall itself is sufficient to allow the jury to draw an inference of negligence. See Nicola v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., 1942, 50 Cal.App.2d 612 , 123 P.2d 529 . The trial court’s view was that inasmuch as appellant failed to object to the following instruction it was thereby in no position to question the applicability of the California rule:

As to this phase of the court’s ruling we need not make a determination because, as the trial court pointed out, there is in addition to the fall itself substantial evidence to sustain a finding that appellant failed to maintain its…