⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Ninth Circuit hears Donna McMillian's appeal after a fall in a Las Vegas Dollar General store. She says she slipped on oil spilled from a can another customer opened. No one witnessed the incident, and surveillance cameras did not cover that aisle, leaving the timing of the spill uncertain. A federal judge ended her case before trial, ruling that she had not shown the store had constructive notice of the hazard. That means the store should have discovered the danger even if no employee actually saw it. McMillian will ask the court to let a jury consider whether reasonable inspections would have found the spill. Dollar General will argue that without evidence of how long this spill was there, the store cannot be charged with notice.

McMillian v. Dolgen Midwest, LLC (No. 25-4947) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued September 15, 2026.