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Horvitz & Levy persuaded the Court of Appeal to affirm a summary judgment for the owner of a retail shoe store in a premises liability action.

Plaintiff was shopping at a shoe store, when another customer pulled a shoe box from a high shelf and dislodged another shoe box that fell and allegedly injured plaintiff. Plaintiff sued the store’s owner for premises liability and general negligence.  The trial court granted summary judgment for the store, and Horvitz & Levy was retained to defend the judgment on appeal.

Horvitz & Levy persuaded the Court of Appeal to affirm on the ground that there was no triable factual issue as to whether a dangerous condition existed in the store or that the store’s owner knew or should have known of a dangerous condition.  Plaintiff argued, among other things, that the California Supreme Court established a heightened standard of care for self-service stores in Bridgman v. Safeway Stores, Inc. (1960) 53 Cal.2d 443.  The Court of Appeal rejected this argument, noting that Bridgman did not categorically impose a heightened standard of care on self-service stores, and in any event, the high shelf in the subject store was not a self-service area.