Brown Ex Rel. Brown v. Wal-Mart Discount Cities

OPINION

RILEY ANDERSON, Chief Justice.

We granted the application for permission to appeal in this slip and fall case to decide the issue of whether the defendant can attribute fault to an unidentified, or “phantom,” tortfeasor.

In this case, the plaintiff was injured when he slipped on ice and water that had been spilled on the floor in defendant’s store. The defendant argued that the jury should be allowed to consider the fault of the unidentified tortfeasor responsible for spilling the ice and water.

The trial judge instructed the jury that it could consider the fault of the unidentified…