James L. Ware and Alma Aguirre Win Summary Judgment With Video Evidence

In a unique fact situation in which an instore video camera captured the entire sequence from an item dropping to the floor to the Plaintiff slipping and falling, Alma Aguirre was able to successfully argue both no actual knowledge and no constructive knowledge.  Plaintiff slipped on a “wet wipe” of the kind provided by the store as a courtesy to its customers.  Plaintiff alleged that the store had both actual and constructive knowledge of the alleged defect and that she suffered neck and back injuries necessitating considerable medical treatment.  The court reviewed the in store video which in a rare instance recorded the entire sequence of events.  The footage proved that no store employee saw the item on the floor before Plaintiff fell and also the time counter on the tape proved that less than eight minutes elapsed from beginning to end.  The generally never available video convinced the court that there was no constructive knowledge of the condition alleged to have caused the fall.