H.E. Butt Grocery Co. v. Resendez
Texas Supreme Court
988 S.W.2d 218 (Tex. 1999)
Maria Resendez (plaintiff) slipped and fell near a customer-sampling grape display at a store owned by H.E. Butt Grocery Co. (Butt) (defendant). The display's grape bowl was level and sturdy, and floor mats surrounded the area. Resendez sued for negligence, claiming the sampling display created an unreasonable risk of harm, but offered no other evidence beyond the existence and location of the display itself. The trial court found for Resendez, and the court of appeals affirmed; Butt appealed to the Texas Supreme Court.
Whether the mere existence of a customer-sampling produce display, without additional evidence of a specific hazard, is enough to establish an unreasonable risk of harm supporting a premises-liability claim.