Jackson v. K-Mart Corp.

Plaintiff's speculation that she tripped over a floor mat that had rolled up due to a gust of wind did not establish that a hazardous condition existed.

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Appellant-plaintiff Joan Jackson brought this trip and fall renewal case against appellee-defendant K-Mart Corporation seeking damages for the injuries she sustained after tripping and falling over a floor mat, a portion of which was rolled up, in the vestibule of a Decatur K-Mart store. The superior court granted K-Mart’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that Ms. Jackson failed to show that K-Mart had superior knowledge of the alleged hazard. Ms. Jackson now appeals.

K-Mart supported its motion for summary judgment by the affidavit of Jack Leslie, a door greeter at its Decatur store at the time of Jackson’s fall. Therein, Leslie testified that “as a Door Greeter, I have never seen the mats at the front entrance of the Store roll up and I have no knowledge of any accidents or trips on the mats due to the mats rolling up from a gust of wind.” In this case as first filed, Ms. Jackson deposed she tripped and fell because a sudden gust of wind caused a portion of one of the floor mats in the vestibule of the Decatur K-Mart store to “roll up in front of her” as “she was about to step on it.” Citing Prophecy Corporation v. Charles Rossignol, Inc., 256 Ga. 27, 28 343 SE2d 680, the superior court found that plaintiff contradicted this testimony by her affidavit in support of her response to K-Mart’s motion for summary judgment in the case sub judice. Though the record reflects that Ms. Jackson did not request her affidavit be included in the record on appeal, she does not dispute the superior court’s order insofar as it pertinently provides that the affidavit “avered that Ms. Jackson ‘does not have personal knowledge of what caused the rug to roll-up. I could speculate as to the cause, but I do not know.’ “

Jackson v. K-Mart Corp.

Plaintiff's speculation that she tripped over a floor mat that had rolled up due to a gust of wind did not establish that a hazardous condition existed.

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