Esteves v. Lowe's Home Centers

── Esteves v. Lowe's Home Centers ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Date: June 03, 2026 Category: Private Civil Diversity Case: 25-40663 Document: 55-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/03/2026 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED June 3, 2026 No. 25-40663 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk Christi Esteves; Erasmo Esteves, Plaintiffs—Appellants, versus Lowe’s Home Centers, L.L.C., Defendant—Appellee. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas USDC No. 9:24-CV-103 ______________________________ Before King, Higginson, and Duncan, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Plaintiffs–Appellants Christi Esteves and Erasmo Esteves appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant–Appellee Lowe’s Home Centers, L.L.C. The Esteveses argue that the district court erred because they raised a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Lowe’s had constructive knowledge of a defective garden cart that injured Christi Esteves. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM. * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.  Case: 25-40663 Document: 55-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/03/2026 No. 25-40663 I. Factual and Procedural History Lowe’s Home Centers, L.L.C. (“Lowe’s”) is a national chain of home improvement stores, and to aid in customer experience, it provides different styles of carts geared towards specific inventory. One such cart is a flat, four-wheeled garden cart. According to Lowe’s, the carts are “staged in areas within the store corresponding to the products for which the carts are intended.” To that end, Lowe’s associates—known as “Loaders”—are tasked with retrieving stray carts in the parking lot and returning them to their designated areas. It is Lowe’s policy that, while returning the carts, the Loaders perform a visual inspection of the cart and remove any defective carts from customer use. On the evening of July 1, 2022, Christi Esteves entered a Lowe’s retail store in Livington, Texas, and grabbed a garden cart from the main entrance foyer.1 She “proceeded to shop for various items in different departments,” and during her shopping, she experienced no issues with the garden cart. Christi then entered the outdoor garden center and began loading bags of decorative rocks onto her garden cart. When she turned to get a fourth bag, she “suddenly felt an intense pain in her foot.” She looked down and saw that the cart had tipped over onto her foot and one of the front wheels of the cart was missing. Lowe’s was unable to locate the missing wheel. Christi and Erasmo Esteves sued Lowe’s, alleging negligence under a theory of premises liability.2 Lowe’s subsequently filed a motion for summary 1 The parties dispute whether the main entrance foyer is a designated area for garden carts. The Esteveses claim it is a designated area because Christi has seen employees place garden carts in this main entrance foyer on many occasions. Lowe’s contends that the main (or front) entrance foyer is not a designated area for a garden cart. This distinction is not material to the analysis, so we do not address it further. 2 Eras