Middlesex Mall BCF Not Liable for Fruit Slip and Fall

Middlesex Mall - The Burlington Coat Factory in Middlesex Mall is not responsible for a customer who slipped on a squished “purplish” berry there, a state appeals court ruled — even though the woman’s attorney said the store’s floors are constantly littered with trash, dirt and other items that store employees never bother to clean.

The court’s Jan. 26 decision can be found here.

Annette Troupe sued the store back in 2012. She said she and her sister were in the Baby Depot section when she slipped on a ”purplish” berry on the ground, causing her serious knee and back injuries.

But the court said Wednesday the store was not responsible for the fall. In fact, in the court’s decision the judges even cited case law in which a Cherry Hill Fried Chicken was not responsible for cooking grease tracked into the restrooms that a woman slipped on, injuring herself.

Troupe’s lawyer also argued that, because Burlington sold baby and children’s clothing, ”Burlington . . . should have foreseen, that at various times those babies and children would be doing the things that babies and children normally do, including eating snacks, drinking drinks, and dropping things onto the floor.”

But, in their decision, the judges pointed out that an outside service cleans the sales floor every morning before the store opened, and employees pick things up when they are dropped.

Judge Arthur Bergman also noted that, “because the berry ’wasn’t anything that they’re selling,’” Burlington could not be held responsible.