HOUSTON - The First Court of Appeals recently affirmed a summary judgment win favor of Buc-ee’s in a slip and fall lawsuit.
The premises liability lawsuit was brought by Juanita De Luna, who alleges that after exiting a Buc-ee’s restroom, she turned toward the coffee area and slipped and fell on a substance on the tile floor, causing her injury.
Court records show Buc-ee’s filed a no-evidence motion for summary judgment, arguing that De Luna had no evidence of any essential element of her premises liability claim.
The trial court granted the motion and entered a take-nothing judgment, leading De Luna to appeal.
On appeal, De Luna argued that Buc-ee’s knew or should have known that the configuration of the store’s coffee area, including the lack of additional floor mats, posed a dangerous condition; and that Buc-ee’s had actual knowledge of the substance on the floor before she slipped and fell.
The First Court concluded on May 23 that the summary judgment evidence raised no more than a mere surmise or suspicion that Buc-ee’s knew of an unreasonable risk of harm accompanying customer usage of the coffee area.
“De Luna therefore did not meet her burden to raise a genuine issue of material fact concerning whether Buc-ee’s knew or should have known that the configuration of the coffee area was unreasonably dangerous,” the opinion states.
“Accordingly, we hold that the trial court did not err by granting summary judgment on this ground.”
Justices further concluded that the record contains no evidence from which a jury reasonably could conclude that Buc-ee’s had actual knowledge of a substance on the floor but negligently failed to clean it before De Luna slipped and fell.
Appeals case No. 01-22-00917-CV