§ 31-21 Premises Liability - Slip and Fall Case Involving Foreign Substance

• Library: South Carolina Requests to Charge - Civil (SCBar) (2016 Ed.)

§ 31-21 Premises Liability - Slip and Fall Case Involving Foreign Substance

The mere fact that an injury has been sustained is not, in and of itself, sufficient to impose liability. The customer must prove negligence and that such negligence was a proximate cause of the injury. The foundation of liability is actionable negligence.

To recover damages for injuries caused by a dangerous or defective condition on a storekeeper's premises, the plaintiff must show either:

(1) that the injury was caused by a specific act of the defendant which created the dangerous condition; or
(2) that the defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and failed to remedy it.

A customer who seeks to recover for injuries sustained as a result of a fall caused by a foreign substance on a storekeeper's floor must prove either:

(1) that the foreign substance was placed on the floor by the defendant or its agents; or
(2) that the defendant had actual or constructive notice the substance was on the floor at the time of the slip and fall and failed to remove it.

In other words, to prove negligence in a slip and fall case, a plaintiff must show the defendant or defendant's agents either created a hazardous condition or had notice of it. In a slip and fall case, the focus is on whether the defendant acted reasonably in discovering and removing foreign objects from the floor. The storekeeper is held only to reasonable care in the discovery and remedy or removal of the foreign substance. A storekeeper is only liable if it places the substance on the floor or if it has actual or constructive notice thereof.

The customer can establish the storekeeper's constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition by showing that the foreign substance had been on the floor for a sufficient time and that the storekeeper would have...