Thompson

The jury returned a verdict in favor of defendant in this action commenced by plaintiff to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in a fall while walking down stairs maintained by defendant at its store in the city of Long Beach. Judgment for defendant was entered upon the verdict, from which plaintiff appeals.

Each step of the stairway in question was equipped with what is known as “Wooster Safety Tread”. The tread consisted of a metal strip. When the metal strip was manufactured and originally installed it contained certain grooves. Between each groove was a raised metal abrasive strip. The safety feature of the tread consisted of a combination of open grooves and abrasive strips. Every alternate groove was open and the others were filled in with lead. Some time after the installation of the stairway in the store, the alternate grooves which were open were also filled in with lead. With this accomplished, all the grooves were filled in, evidently because it was easier to sweep the tread if all of the grooves were filled than if each alternate groove were open. At the time of the accident here in question, a strip of this lead which had been filled in the groove on the…