C&J attorneys Geoffrey C. Haslam, and Kristen C. Kiburtz recently prevailed on appeal in a premises liability case involving a slip and fall on a flashlight at a Megaplex Theater. On appeal, the plaintiff argued that the district court erred in granting summary judgment because he alleged their was a dispute over when the theater was inspected in relation to the time he slipped on the flashlight and fell. The Utah Court of Appeals disagreed, siding with the arguments made by the C&J attorneys. Ultimately, the court of appeals found that even if there was a dispute as to the exact time when the theater was inspected in relation to the fall, that fact was "not material to the resolution of the underlying legal issue in this case," which is whether the flashlight "had been [on the floor] for an appreciable time." Because the plaintiff could not present any evidence "about how the flashlight came to be on the floor or how long it might have been on the floor before the accident," the court of appeals said there was "no basis for a jury to determine the amount of time the flashlight was on the floor before the accident." As a result, the court of appeals concluded that the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate a genuine issue of fact as to the element of constructive notice, and denied the plaintiff's appeal. Congratulations to Geoff and Kristen on their victory for their client. Read the court of appeals' full opinion
here,