Malaney v. Hannaford Bros. Co.

¶ 1. Plaintiff Paulette Malaney, who sued defendant Hannaford Brothers Company after she slipped and fell on a grape in the company’s grocery store, appeals a jury verdict in favor of defendant. She argues that she was entitled to a directed verdict on the issue of liability, and that the trial court’s instructions to the jury were incomplete and erroneous in several respects. We conclude that the trial court committed prejudicial error (1) by endorsing in front of the jury defendant’s misleading statement of the law of premises liability during its closing argument, and (2) by giving the…