A recent Supreme Court decision narrows store's liability for slip and fall, court finds
TRENTON -- A state appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that Burlington Coat Factory was not responsible for a customer's injuries after she slipped on a piece of fruit and fell inside one of their stores.
The three-judge panel found there was no way management at the retailer's Middlesex Mall location could have known the fruit was there before the woman slipped on it.
The plaintiff in the case, Annette Troupe, had argued the company was responsible for serious knee and back injuries she sustained in the fall. According to the decision, Troupe and her sister were inside the Baby Depot section of the store when she slipped on the fruit, which the court described as a "purplish" berry.
Troupe filed suit in 2012, and hired an expert who testified the store failed to conduct regular inspections of its retail floor, which served as "substantial contributing cause of Ms. Troupe's fall," court records show.
The woman's attorney, Patrick J. Bradshaw, said he observed a spot inspection at the store as part of the litigation which found various items scattered on the floor.
"Even on this random day, we see stuff in the aisles from patrons, and they're still not cleaning the floor," Bradshaw told NJ Advance Media.
But the court, noting a recent state Supreme Court decision involving a Cherry Hill Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, affirmed a Superior Court judge's ruling that the company was not responsible.
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The appeals panel found Troupe's case "did not show that the fruit had anything to do with Burlington's business."
Bradshaw argued they had demonstrated the store had failed to regularly clean its floors and the court was making too fine a distinction about the object that caused the fall.
"It literally depended on what she fell on," he said. Bradshaw said he would have to confer with his client, who had undergone surgery following the fall, before moving forward.
A representative for Burlington Coat Factory could not be reached for comment.
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.