Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
A customer spilled five blueberries near a Walmart self-checkout station. Seventeen minutes later, Carrie Shields slipped on a blueberry and was injured. Surveillance footage showed a Walmart employee briefly walking past the blueberries twice and, on another occasion, standing nearby for approximately 30 seconds with her back turned to them.
Shields sued Wal-Mart Stores Texas, LLC for premises liability under Texas law. Walmart sought summary judgment solely on the knowledge element, arguing that there was no evidence it created the hazard, actually knew about it, or had a reasonable opportunity to discover it.
The Court’s Holding
The court granted Walmart summary judgment, holding that Shields failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to Walmart’s constructive knowledge of the blueberries. The fruit had been on the floor for only about 17 minutes, was small and difficult to see against the gray concrete, and had not been observed by any employee or customer.
The employee’s proximity did not change the result. She passed the blueberries for fewer than 10 total seconds and later stood near them while facing away. Relying on materially similar Fifth Circuit precedent involving an inconspicuous grape on a store floor for 17 minutes, the court concluded that Walmart lacked a reasonable opportunity to discover the hazard. It dismissed Shields’s premises-liability claim with prejudice.
Key Takeaways
- Under Texas’s time-notice rule, a premises-liability plaintiff must show that the defendant created or actually knew of the hazard, or that the hazard existed long enough to provide a reasonable opportunity for discovery.
- Seventeen minutes was legally insufficient here because the blueberries were small, inconspicuous, and not shown to have been seen by anyone.
- An employee’s brief proximity to a hazard does not by itself establish constructive knowledge, particularly when the employee faces away from it.
Why It Matters
The decision illustrates how the duration and visibility of a spill interact under Texas premises-liability law. Even surveillance footage placing an employee close to a hazard may not defeat summary judgment without evidence that the hazard was sufficiently conspicuous or remained present long enough to be discovered through reasonable care.