The woman fractured her left arm after she fell at a Woolworths store in Cape Town.
An elderly woman who broke her left arm after slipping in a Woolworths store has suffered a setback, as her claim for damages was dismissed.
The Western Cape High Court in Cape Town handed down its ruling this week.
Norma Gailis had alleged that she slipped on a wet and slippery floor at the Woolworths store in Constantia Village Shopping Centre on 11 April 2021, resulting in both physical injuries and emotional distress.
Elderly Woolworths shopper sustains injuries
In her claim for damages, Gailis recounted that she and her husband, Lionel, went to the store to buy grapes on the morning of the accident.
She explained that Lionel was walking ahead, pushing a trolley, which he needed for support due to a mobility-impairing accident in 1993.
Gailis said she was walking three or four steps behind him when her left foot suddenly slipped, causing her to fall onto her left arm and hit her head on the floor.
She suffered a cut above her left eyebrow that bled.
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Gailis testified that Woolworths store operations group manager Lindsay Basson came to the scene and arranged for a wheelchair.
The elderly woman initially stated that Basson had applied a plaster to her wound, but later admitted she could not remember.
Her son, Brian, arrived about 20 minutes later and drove her to Constantiaberg Hospital, where x-rays confirmed a fractured left arm.
Gailis conceded during cross-examination that she had not been looking at the floor when she fell and could not identify what she allegedly slipped on.
Husband’s account
Lionel testified that he did not see his wife fall because he had been walking ahead.
When he turned toward her, she was already on the floor.
He said that within three seconds he himself slipped and fell, landing partially across his wife’s left arm.
The husband also stated that he did not see any blood on the floor and denied that a cleaner came to mop it up afterward.
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An occupational health and safety expert, Roeleen Henning, testified that she had not investigated the incident herself.
She only reviewed documents provided to her to determine whether there was any indication of systemic non-compliance with health and safety legislation.
Henning admitted she had no factual evidence showing a slippery surface and conceded that the absence of video footage neither proved nor disproved the witnesses’ accounts.
Woolworths’ witnesses
Basson and another Woolworths employee, merchandiser Cameron Jacobs, also testified.
Jacobs said he had been unpacking avocados when he saw Gailis near the fruit section.
He testified that he witnessed her fall while she was pushing a trolley.
After summoning Basson, Jacobs returned to the scene and saw only drops of blood on the floor.
He did not see any water or liquid and could not recall whether anyone later cleaned the blood.
Basson explained that his duties included overseeing store safety, security, and hygiene.
He recounted that upon arrival, he found Gailis on the floor with Lionel beside her.
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When he asked what had happened, Lionel responded with the single word “trolley.”
Basson said he then tested the trolley’s wheels and found them in working order.
While he was assisting Gailis onto a wheelchair with Lionel, the woman complained of pain in her left arm.
Lionel, who had been supporting her arm, released it and his wife fell backward, according to the employee.
Basson indicated that he then instructed a cleaner to mop the blood and, following Woolworths’ procedures, requested that employees prepare written statements about the incident.
He confirmed he logged the incident internally, noting only what he had been told at the time.
Western Cape High Court judgment
In her judgment, Acting Judge E Jonker noted that neither Gailis, her husband, nor Woolworths staff observed a wet floor.
Jonker pointed out that even Henning had no factual evidence regarding the incident.
The judge found Gailis’ testimony contained inconsistencies and described Lionel’s account as “similarly problematic”.
In contrast, the judge stated, the evidence from Woolworths’ witnesses was “consistent, coherent, and supported” by records.
Without proof of a hazardous condition, Jonker emphasised, Woolworths could not be found negligent, nor could a causal link between alleged negligence and Gailis’ injuries be established.
“This court is mindful that the plaintiff is an elderly person who sustained serious injuries in a traumatic incident.
“I have sympathy for her. However, the law requires that a plaintiff prove her case on a balance of probabilities, and this the plaintiff has failed to do,” the 11 December judgment reads.
Gailis’ claim was therefore dismissed, with costs awarded against her.
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