BOZZI v. NORDSTROM,















Filed 7/13/10













CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION



IN THE COURT OF
APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA



SECOND APPELLATE
DISTRICT



DIVISION EIGHT




>

KATYA BOZZI, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. NORDSTROM, INC., et al., Defendants and Respondents.

B217782 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. YC056696)

APPEAL
from the judgment of the Superior Court
of Los Angeles
County. Cary H.
Nishimoto, Judge. Affirmed.



Lon
B. Isaacson Associates, Lon B. Isaacson and Stephen R. Onstot for Plaintiff and
Appellant.



Manning
& Marder Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Kathleen A. Hunt and Patrick L. Hurley for
Defendants and Respondents Nordstrom, Inc. and South
Bay Center.




Danner
& Chonoles and Stephen J. Chonoles for Defendant and Respondent Kone Inc.





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In
this personal injury
lawsuit, plaintiff Katya Bozzi appeals from the grant of summary judgment in
favor of defendants Nordstrom, Inc., South Bay Center, LLC (collectively
Nordstrom), and Kone, Inc. (Kone). Bozzi
was riding the down escalator to the first floor of a Nordstrom department
store when the escalator stopped abruptly due to a power outage that was
apparently caused by a nearby traffic accident.
We affirm the judgment, finding plaintiff did not show there was a triable issue of fact that defendants
breached any duty of care or that the escalator was defective.

>BACKGROUND

On July 14, 2006, plaintiff was shopping
at the Nordstrom store at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo
Beach. She was
riding an escalator from the second floor down to the first after making a
purchase. An electrical service
interruption in the City of Redondo Beach
caused a power outage in the store. The
lights went out, and the escalator stopped.
Plaintiff was holding onto one or both handrails, but she was injured
when her left foot moved down one step on the escalator, though she did not
fall. The power was out for about one
minute and was then restored. The lights
went on, the escalator descended to the first floor, and plaintiff walked out
of the store. There were other shoppers
riding the escalator with plaintiff, including her adult daughter, but no one
else claimed to have been injured.

Plaintiff sued all defendants
for negligence. She alleged Nordstrom
was a business that invited her to shop and therefore owed a duty not to create
an unreasonably dangerous condition in the store. Further, she alleged Nordstrom violated the
duty to inspect and maintain the safety of the escalator and to warn of the
danger of a jolt in the event of a power outage. She alleged Kone, successor to the escalator
manufacturer, also violated the duty to provide a safe escalator or warn of
inherent defects. The second cause of
action against Nordstrom for premises liability also alleged violation of the
duty to take reasonable steps to prevent reasonably foreseeable harm. The third cause of action was against Kone
only, for strict product liability.
Plaintiff alleged all defendants had a duty to either supply an
alternate power supply or design and maintain the escalator so that it would
slow to a gradual stop when the power went out.


THE SUMMARY
JUDGMENT MOTIONS

Nordstrom and Kone
filed separate motions for summary
judgment. They argued the escalator
was not defective, and plaintiff was not injured by any negligence in the
design, manufacture, installation or maintenance of the escalator. Defendants contended this was one of those
accidents for which no one was to blame.
(See Mautino v. Sutter Hospital
Assn. (1931) 211 Cal. 556,
561 [â€