Perez

facts are this simple and the contest is between a reasonable explanation and no reasonable explanation, the reasonable explanation wins. I Hibachi Buffet could seat 200 customers. Its employees took dirty dishes from the dining area to the kitchen for washing. Buffet’s three-level dish cart could carry tubs and buckets. The record contains a picture of a dish cart, although here it is not in the hallway where Perez fell. (See appendix A., post, p. 15.) On the top level there could be a tray for drinking cups. Cups would contain whatever liquid customers left in them when Buffet employees cleared dirty dishes from tables.

2 On the day of the incident, Perez left his lunch table and walked down a hallway to a restroom. The hallway was three to four feet wide and led past the restrooms to the kitchen. Perez noticed no moisture on the floor. He was in the restroom for 45 or 60 seconds adjusting his dentures. Then he left, stepped into the hallway, slipped, and fell. The flooring was tile and liquid had made it slippery. Everyone agrees the hallway floor was wet when Perez left the restroom. Perez assumed it was water: it was clear and had no odor. Others saw and photographed the…