1. TO: Ms. Subrina Cooper
FROM: Christina Guidry
DATE: December 2, 2013
RE: Jiffy Food Market, negligence following a slip and fall
STATEMENT OF FACTS
Our client, Jiffy Food Market, is being sued for negligence by Ima Pigg. Ms. Pigg went
to the Jiffy Food Market in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to purchase groceries on July 8,2012. While
she was in the produce department, she slipped on a banana peel that had been left on the floor
by a grocery store employee. The employee had dropped it on the floor two days earlier and had
failed to clean it up after a patron asked him to do so. Ms. Pigg sustained a broken arm and head
injuries as a result of the slip and fall. She has sued Jiffy Food Market for negligence resulting
from her slip and fall.
QUESTION PRESENTED
Is our client, Jiffy Food Market, liable for Ms. Pigg’s slip and fall accident because our
client was aware of the hazardous condition before Ms. Pigg slipped and fell?
BRIEF ANSWER
Yes, Mississippi has adopted the rule that business owners have a duty to provide safe
environments for patrons. In addition, because an employee created the hazardous condition and
failed to clean it puts even more liability on our client.

2. DISCUSSION
In order for a plaintiff to recover in a slip-and-fall case, he must (1) show that some
negligent act of the defendant caused [her] injury; or, (2) show that the defendant had actual
knowledge of a dangerous condition and failed to warn the plaintiff; or, (3) show that the
dangerous condition existed for a sufficient amount of time to impute constructive knowledge to
the defendant, in that the defendant should have known of the dangerous condition
Bonner v. Imperial Palace of Mississippi, LLC, 117 So. 3d 678, 682 (Miss. App. 2013)
The question of whether liability requires a showing that the premises owner had actual
or constructive notice depends upon whether the allegedly dangerous condition was caused by
the negligence of the premises owner or someone under his authority, and if the condition was
caused by the premises owner or someone under his authority, then notice is not required for
liability, but if the condition was caused by someone or something other than the premises owner
or someone under his authority, then actual or constructive notice is required. Elgandy v. Boyd
Mississippi, Inc., 2005, 909 So.2d 1202.
Duty of courts under Mississippi comparative negligence statute is to consider all facts
and circumstances in evidence, weighing preponderances, drawing inferences, balancing
hypotheses, and comparing delinquencies in light of experience as reasonable and honorable
men. Miss. Code. Ann. § 11-7-15 (West)
Typically in slip-and-fall cases, a plaintiff must prove that the dangerous condition
causing the fall was a result of the defendant's acts or that the defendant had actual or
constructive knowledge of the condition. Contreras v. Walgreens Drug Store No. 3837, 214 Ariz.
137, 149 P.3d 761 (Ct. App. Div. 2 2006). 85 A.L.R.3d 1000 (Originally published in 1978)