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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA NO. 98-C-0924

BELINDA HEBERT, ET AL. V. BROWN BOTTLING GROUP, INC., ET AL.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT, STATE OF LOUISIANA

PER CURIAM*
We granted certiorari in this case primarily to determine whether the court of appeal erred in reversing the trial court's allocation of fault. After a review of the record, we find that the court of appeal did so err. The trial court's finding is not clearly wrong. We therefore reinstate that finding.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY This case arises from an accident which occurred on June 29, 1992, at the Shop Rite convenience store in Crowley, Louisiana. The record indicates that on the morning of the incident, Brown Bottling Group, Inc. ("Brown Bottling") sent one of its employees, Payton Black, to the store to change and rearrange plastic shelving known as "cool glides"1 located in the store's refrigerated coolers. Mr. Black arrived at approximately 8:30 a.m. and worked for several hours, removing the old cool glides, setting them aside, and replacing them with cool glides he brought in from his truck. As he removed the old cool glides, he stepped outside the cooler and stacked them against a shelf in the third aisle of the store. Although Brown Bottling's usual policy was to perform this work inside the cooler, Mr. Black found it more convenient not to do so on this occasion because the Shop Rite cooler was small and he did not want to trip over the cool glides. After a few hours of work, Mr. Black had about twenty cool glides stacked together, and the stack, which was tilted at an angle

*

Calogero, C.J. not on panel. Rule IV, Part II,

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