Supreme Court hears dispute over when falling merchandise can be deemed ‘reasonably foreseeable’ in Galassi v. Lowe’s

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Nov. 14 in Galassi v. Lowe’s over whether the court’s reasonable-foreseeability exception to the usual notice requirement should be applied automatically to falling merchandise or limited to hazards tied to a specific location and mode of operation.

Jonathan Misson, counsel for petitioner Lowe’s Home Centers, told the justices the key question is whether recent precedent, including Johnson, made falling merchandise per se foreseeable. "Forty years of jurisprudence, beginning with Pimentel all the way through Johnson, has made clear that the exception is limited, not a per se rule, and involves a hazard specific and location specific analysis," Misson said, urging reversal of the Court of Appeals’ decision because, he said, the Galassis had not presented evidence about what caused the hazard in the Olympia store’s…