BROOKLYN, NY – A federal judge has dismissed a negligence lawsuit brought by a Brooklyn woman who slipped and fell in a BJ’s Wholesale Club, ruling there was no evidence the retailer had advance knowledge of the hazardous condition that allegedly caused her injury.
Tricia McFee filed the suit in early 2021 after she slipped in the water section of the BJ’s store on Remsen Avenue in Brooklyn on August 20, 2020. McFee alleged she slipped on liquid that had pooled near a pallet display of bottled water. She claimed BJ’s failed to maintain a safe shopping environment.
However, in a ruling issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Margo K. Brodie granted BJ’s motion for summary judgment, finding that McFee failed to produce evidence showing that the retailer either created the spill or had notice of it in time to remedy the condition.
According to court filings, BJ’s employees stocked the water pallets overnight before the store opened. The pallets were pre-wrapped and delivered directly from suppliers, and store employees testified they did not restack or unpackage the water before placing it on the floor.
McFee claimed she slipped in an area with no signs or barriers and alleged BJ’s should have known about the potential for leaks. But Judge Brodie concluded that speculation about what might have happened was insufficient to prove negligence.
“The record contains no evidence that Defendant had actual or constructive notice of a spill, or that its conduct created the hazard,” the ruling stated. The court noted that while McFee alleged water was present, she could not say how long it had been there or whether BJ’s had the opportunity to detect and clean it up.
Additionally, the judge granted in part BJ’s motion to exclude expert testimony from McFee’s liability expert. The court found that parts of the proposed testimony lacked a sufficient factual basis or applied speculative reasoning.
Slip-and-fall cases under New York law require plaintiffs to show that property owners either created the condition or had actual or constructive notice of it before the incident. Courts have routinely dismissed cases where plaintiffs cannot show how long a spill existed or that employees should have been aware of it.
The case had been removed from Kings County Supreme Court to federal court in June 2021 based on diversity jurisdiction. With Friday’s ruling, the case is now closed unless McFee chooses to appeal.