Torres v. Target CA2/2

Filed 1/15/14 Torres v. Target CA2/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION TWO

SANDRA TORRES, B241941

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. VC057053) v.

TARGET CORPORATION et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Margaret M. Bernal, Judge. Affirmed.

Law Offices of Barry Novack, Barry B. Novack and Samuel J. Winokur for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester, Eugene J. Egan, Steven J. Renick, and Joshua B. Shayne for Defendants and Respondents.

Plaintiff and appellant Sandra Torres (plaintiff) appeals the summary judgment entered in favor of defendants and respondents Target Corporation (Target) and Noah Gilchrist (Gilchrist) (collectively, defendants) in this negligence action for injuries sustained when plaintiff slipped and fell inside a Target store. We affirm the judgment. BACKGROUND Factual background Plaintiff slipped and fell in a Target store in Santa Fe Springs, California on September 5, 2008. She entered the store when it opened at 8:00 a.m. and shopped. Approximately 10 to 15 minutes after entering the store, plaintiff slipped and fell in the center of the main aisle near the infants’ section and men’s clothing. Before she fell, plaintiff felt some unknown item under her sandal that caused her to lose her balance. Her left foot rotated down toward the ground and then turned around approximately 90 degrees. The object plaintiff stepped on caused a round indentation, approximately one- eighth inch across the sole of her left sandal. Plaintiff did not know the size, shape, or identity of the object she stepped on before falling, how that object came to be on the floor, or how long it had been on the floor before she fell. Janitors from Global Building Services (Global) cleaned the Santa Fe Springs Target store every day in September 2008 before the store opened at 8:00 a.m. At the end of each Global shift, Target store facilities technician Gregory Bautista (Bautista) inspected the areas of the store that the janitors had cleaned. When the Global janitors finished cleaning the store at approximately 7:50 a.m. on September 5, 2008, Bautista walked through the store with a Global employee to look for debris or liquid that needed to be cleaned up. That joint inspection included walking through the aisle where plaintiff’s accident later occurred. Earlier that same morning, from approximately 6:45 to 7:45 a.m., Bautista had walked down the store’s main aisles, including the aisle where plaintiff later fell, to look for anything that could be a tripping or slipping hazard. Lorraine Madrid (Madrid) was stocking shelves at the Santa Fe Springs Target store on the date of plaintiff’s accident. That morning, Madrid and four other employees unpacked clothing and stocked shelves with infants’ merchandise and shoes. It was their