Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
Silvia Canales slipped on water while walking toward a bathroom in a Walmart store in Missouri City, Texas. She reported injuries to her knee, hip, and arm and sued Walmart Texas, L.L.C. in Texas state court under a premises-liability theory. Walmart removed the case to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction.
Walmart moved for summary judgment, arguing that Canales could not show it had actual or constructive knowledge of the water. The district court agreed and dismissed the claim. On Canales’s appeal, the Fifth Circuit denied her petition for panel rehearing, withdrew its previous opinion, substituted this opinion, and again affirmed the judgment.
The Court’s Holding
The Fifth Circuit held that Canales failed to create a genuine dispute of material fact over Walmart’s constructive knowledge of the water. Under Texas law, an employee’s proximity to a hazard does not establish constructive notice without evidence showing how long the hazard existed. Security footage showing employees walking near the location of the fall therefore was insufficient by itself.
The court rejected Canales’s argument that the water must have been present throughout the 75-minute video because no change in the floor was visible, characterizing that inference as speculative. Even construing the footage as showing another woman slip and a patron avoid a puddle, the first such incident occurred only eight minutes before Canales fell, which was insufficient to establish notice of an inconspicuous hazard. Photographs of dirty footprints likewise did not establish the spill’s duration under Texas law.
Key Takeaways
- A Texas premises-liability plaintiff relying on constructive notice must present temporal evidence showing how long the dangerous condition existed.
- Employees’ presence near a hazard, without evidence of its duration or conspicuousness, does not establish constructive knowledge.
- Video showing a possible encounter with an inconspicuous spill eight minutes before a fall, and photographs of dirty footprints, did not create a triable notice issue.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces Texas’s time-notice rule in federal diversity cases: evidence that a spill existed near employees is not enough unless a factfinder can reasonably determine that it remained long enough to be discovered. Plaintiffs opposing summary judgment must offer nonspeculative evidence connecting the condition to a meaningful period before the accident.