Thompson v. Beard and Gabelman

The opinion of the court was delivered by This was an action for damages for personal injuries, and plaintiff appeals from a ruling of the district court sustaining defendant's demurrer to plaintiff's evidence on the ground that it failed to show actionable negligence on the part of the defendant. The facts may be briefly stated. Plaintiff, a customer, entered defendant's dress shop to look at house dresses; she selected two which she wished to try on and, at the direction of a saleslady then busy serving another customer, went to a fitting room at the rear of the store. Seeing two identical curtained doorways, plaintiff entered the one directly ahead of her and found herself in a small office containing a chair and desk with a lighted lamp upon it; noticing a door slightly ajar immediately to her right, she mistakenly assumed it led to the fitting room and entered, but had advanced only a few steps when she fell down a flight of steps to the basement storeroom, sustaining the injuries for which recovery was sought in this action.