Valente v. Stop & Shop Supermarket Co.

This is a negligence action to recover for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff Claudio Valente in a fall in the defendant’s supermarket After a jury-waived trial, judgment was entered for the plaintiff. The defendant has appealed the trial court’s denial of its Mass. R. Civ. P., Rule 41(b) (2), motions for involuntary dismissal filed after the plaintiff’s opening statement, at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence and, again, at the conclusion of trial.

The defendant’s Rule 41 (b) (2) motions expressly challenged the legal sufficiency of the evidence to permit a finding in the plaintiff’s…