In this premises liability action, Charles Carroll and his wife, Connie Carroll, asserted claims for personal injury and loss of consortium against The Krystal Company “Krystal”, based on injuries Charles Carroll allegedly sustained after slipping and falling as he was exiting a Krystal restaurant in Valdosta. The Carrolls now appeal from the trial court’s order granting summary judgment against them and in favor of Krystal, asserting that the trial court erred in finding that there existed no disputed question of fact on the issue of whether Carroll’s fall was caused by a hazardous condition on Krystal’s premises. We agree and therefore reverse the trial court’s order. We review the trial court’s grant of summary judgment de novo to determine if the evidence demonstrates any genuine issue of material fact. To prevail, the moving party must demonstrate that there are no genuine issues of any material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, support judgment as a matter of law. A defendant may do this by showing the court that the documents, affidavits, depositions and other evidence in the record reveal that there is no evidence sufficient to create a jury issue on at least one essential element of plaintiff’s case. Punctuation omitted. Prescott v. Colonial Properties Trust .1 Where the defendant “discharges this burden, the plaintiff cannot rest on his pleadings, but rather must point to specific evidence giving rise to a triable issue.” Henson v. Georgia-Pacific Corp. 2 So viewed, the record shows that on or about May 31, 2006, Carroll stopped for breakfast at the Krystal restaurant in question. He entered through the right side of the restaurant’s front, double doors and proceeded to the counter, where he ordered, paid for, and received his food and a cold drink. According to Carroll, there were other customers eating in the restaurant, but there were no other customers at the counter and no customers came in after he did.
Carrying his drink and a bag containing his food, Carroll began to exit the restaurant through the left side of the front, double doors. As he pushed on the door and stepped outside, he slipped and both of his legs went out from under him. He fell, and landed on his right side, holding onto the door handle with his right hand, and with his body partially inside and partially outside the restaurant. Although Carroll testified that the floor was slick, he did not see anything on the floor of the restaurant that could have caused him to slip.
