BLANCHE PAPENDICK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WOODMAN'S FOOD MARKET, INC., LOUIS SULLIVAN, SECRETARY, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendants-Respondents., 173 Wis. 2d 907

Summary

The trial court dismissed the injured party's complaint for personal injury damages against the food market, holding that the injured party had to produce expert testimony that the food market was negligent in the manner in which it maintained the produce department or displayed its fruits and vegetables. The injured party appealed the dismissal. On review the court disagreed with the trial court's assessment, holding that the safe-place statute, Wis. Stat. § 101.11, required grocers to use reasonable measures to discover and remove spilled fruit from their floors. The court noted that there was a reasonable probability that an unsafe condition would occur because of the nature of the business, and that knowledge was constructively charged to the food market. Therefore it was erroneous to dismiss the complaint as expert testimony was not required to show whether the food market complied with industry standards in the maintenance and display of its produce.