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Publix supermarket. Photo: Michael715/Shutterstock.com[/caption] A Florida appellate court on Wednesday reversed a $1.5 million slip-and-fall verdict against Publix Super Markets Inc., finding there was no evidence the supermarket knew about a wet floor. A Miami jury ruled in favor of Jessie Bellaiche, who hurt her shoulder after falling in a Publix aisle in 2010. Bellaiche, then 70, said her pants were wet after the fall, and she saw a Publix employee with a mop in his hand. The Third District Court of Appeal ruled the testimony was not enough to support the judgment. The store manager testified Publix used rayon mops and there was only one on-duty janitor, who was seen on surveillance video with a broom and dustpan. "At best, a reasonable jury could only arrive at a verdict for Bellaiche by stacking inferences drawn from the purely circumstantial evidence presented, which it cannot do," wrote Third DCA Judge Ivan Fernandez, with Chief Judge Leslie Rothenberg and Judge Vance Salter concurring. The appellate panel instructed the trial court to enter judgment in favor of Publix. "It strikes me that something went wrong in the jury's perception of the case because they appear to have ignored the absence of evidence to show that Publix knew about this supposedly dangerous condition," Publix appellate lawyer Edward Guedes said. "The trial court's duty in that scenario is to direct a verdict so that a jury doesn't get carried away by however they may feel about the parties and ignore the evidence in the record." The trial judge was Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Migna Sanchez-Llorens. Guedes and Anne Reilly of Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Cole & Bierman in Coral Gables represented Publix. Bellaiche was represented by Rami Shmuely of Chavin Mitchell Shmuely in North Miami, Robert Switkes of Robert L. Switkes & Associates in Miami Beach, Stephen Rosenthal of Podhurst Orseck in Miami and Michael Higer of Berger Singerman in Miami. Shmuely said they would be meeting in the coming days to determine next steps. "We have great respect for the judicial process, the court and its ruling," he said.