Slip and Fall Liability

slip and fall

Filing a legal claim on the basis of premises liability, for example, when you slip and fall in a store, is worthwhile only when the value of the case is high enough.  In other words, if after the winning the case and paying your attorney, will you be compensated enough to justify the time consuming and oftentimes difficult litigation process?  We consider the following principles.

First, any business that opens its doors to the public is legally obligated to keep its patrons and visitors reasonably safe.  Whether you visit a giant powerhouse like Walmart, Target or Costco, a supermarket chain such as Safeway, or even a smaller business that invites the public in, there is a legal duty to keep customers safe.  If you are hurt in a slip and fall on a store’s premise, you may have a valid legal claim against that business.

Sometimes, these accidents are simply accidents, and no one is to blame. Often, however, it’s poor maintenance, failure to clean up, faulty railings, or some other dereliction in care that results in slip and fall injuries. Several factors can be considered in most slip and fall cases.  For example, snow or ice in the entry way, failure to place a floor mat in the entry on a rainy day, display items that are poorly placed, inadequate lighting, or a spilled substance or broken item which has been there for a significant length of time can all cause slip and fall accidents. Below are some noteworthy examples of slip and fall settlements:

Home Depot Fall Injury Case Verdict: $950,000

A woman’s knee was injured after her cart hit a manhole cover which was hidden by water, tipping over the cart. Although Home Depot claimed the dangers were obvious, the jury found Home Depot to be 95% at fault, and ordered them to pay $950,000 for the woman’s knee injuries.

Walmart Injury Case Verdict: $600,000

At a New York Walmart, a 34-year-old medical secretary slipped on ice and fell while walking around the store’s premise. After she fell, she was also hit by a falling sheet of ice which had slid off the metal roof above her. She sustained a severe injury to her left arm that required surgery and prevented her from using her hand. Walmart claimed that an employee told the woman to stay inside, but she failed to heed the warning. Walmart also claimed that, that contrary to her claim, the roof was properly designed.  The jury awarded the 34-year-old medical secretary $600,000 for her slip and fall injury.

Sam’s Club Injury Case Verdict: $3,960,000

In a Michigan case, a 54-year old heart surgeon tripped over the tongue of a trailer hitch in a Sam’s Club parking lot while carrying a large bulk package of paper towels. The surgeon suffered a spinal injury, which caused his hands to shake continually. The fall injury ended his career. The surgeon alleged the trailer hitch should have been cordoned off or marked with a cone. He received $3.96 million for loss of future income.

Other examples of slip and fall settlements found from various new outlets include:

  • $2 Million Awarded to family for hospital fall of elderly patient
  • $70,000 to girl for foot injuries received during gym class
  • $18 Million to medical student for open manhole injury
  • $300k for fall at PetSmart store

Liability for a Slip and Fall in a Store

Slip and fall cases are extremely common, but not all result in such huge settlements as those noted above. Moreover, not all cases are won by the plaintiff.  Broadly, the business owner may be liable if the condition was known, but no steps were taken to remedy the situation.

For example, if a customer breaks a bottle of apple juice in a grocery store, and another customer immediately slips and falls, there will likely be no premises liability, as the store did not have adequate notice or time to remedy the situation.  On the other hand, if some time went by and the store was advised of the spill or should have discovered it and did nothing, and another customer slipped and fell, then there is a good possibility of liability.   At the same time, the plaintiff must also prove that the condition at issue was not so obvious that he or she could have avoided or mitigated the incident.

If you were injured in a slip and fall accident in or near a store, contact the Law Offices of Stuart L. Plotnick to discuss your claim.

Sources: http://www.injuryhelpline.com/blog/slip-fall-store-injury-cases-settlements/#more-1044

http://www.slipnomore.com/Slip_and_Fall_Verdicts

Summer is Here – Swimming Pool Accidents and Brain Injury

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tells us that about ten people die every day from accidental drowning. Sadly, of those ten people, two are children under the age of 14. Drowning is ranked as the 5th most common cause of accidental injury death in the U.S. and can happen in any pool.

Injuries in the Swimming Pool

Notably, more than 50% of drowning victims treated in the E.R. require further hospitalization or transfer for additional care. This is in comparison to the fact that only 6% of all of her accidental injuries require further hospitalization following initial treatment. Nonfatal drowning injuries can cause severe brain damage that can lead to long-term disabilities including: problems with memory recall; other learning disabilities; and permanent loss of basic functioning or vegetative state.

Drowning Facts

  • For children aged one to fourteen years, fatal drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death.
  • Children ages one to four have the highest drowning rates.
  • For every child who dies from drowning, another five children typically receive treatment in the E.R. for submersion injuries.
  • Nearly 80% of those who die in a drowning are male.
  • The fatal drowning rate for African-Americans was markedly higher than that of Caucasians regardless of age.

Prevention of Swimming Pool Accidents

Many factors are at play in drowning and submersion injuries; but two make a huge difference:

  1. Fencing – Considering the percentage of children who are harmed in swimming pool accidents, fences are vital in preventing such accidents from occurring in the first place.
  2. Swimming lessons – The inability to properly swim also accounts for many cases of drowning and submersion.

Both state and federal laws regulate the safety of swimming pools and their equipment which must be observed by manufacturers, sellers, and installers of pools and spas. If you or a loved one experienced swimming pool accident or head injury, you may be entitled to compensation for current and future expenses, in addition to legal damages. Contact the Law Offices of Stuart L. Plotnick as soon as possible to preserve your options.

Slip and Falls on Ice

Slip and fall injuries are a type of premises liability claim that are made when a person slips and falls as a result of an unsafe or hazardous condition on another’s property. As a starter, the law holds that a property owner or property manager must use reasonable and ordinary care to keep their premises safe, or warn persons of any hazards or dangers that are present, but the owner has not yet repaired or fixed. A hazard can be anything from that liquid that came from the broken bottle of Pepsi in “Aisle 9” at the grocery store, the recently mopped floor in the office building, or the hole or depression in the parking lot.  Although, these are all typical slip and fall scenarios, the focus of my comments here pertains to those falls, which occur on ice.

All slip and fall cases are difficult, but ones where the culprit is ice are particularly difficult in Maryland. In fact, until 2011, these cases were virtually impossible to win even when the owner of the sidewalk, parking lot, or stairs, did nothing to clear the area, or treat it with salt or sand. This is because Maryland follows the rule of assumption of the risk, which holds that if the victim had or should have had knowledge of the danger beforehand, but still proceeds ahead, he/she is choosing to take the chance that he/she might fall and be injured.

We all agree that when a person is walking on any surface, he/she has a duty to watch where he/she is going and to avoid hazards; however, walking in an area where there is snow or ice about can be like walking in a minefield because ice in particular, in some cases, cannot be seen. Until recently, Maryland courts were very unforgiving in these cases, as they would find against a plaintiff virtually automatically if the evidence showed that the victim knew or should have known from the surrounding weather or other conditions that ice might be present at the location where they fell. The property owner only had to prove that the weather or outdoor conditions were sufficient for ice to form (i.e. it was freezing and had been wet or snowy in the time period before the fall), and thus the injured party should have known that the surface where they fell could be icy. So, for example, if the victim was walking outside on the day after it snowed, the snow or ice appeared to be cleared or treated, but at the time of the fall, the temperature was at freezing and there were wet, snowy or icy patches close by, the victim should have concluded that the location they were walking over was very likely icy and dangerous too. This was the rule, even if the victim did not actually see the ice. We can understand this rule for snowy areas or where the ice is clearly visible because the victim can see the danger, but chooses to proceed ahead; but, how can one assume a risk that he cannot see or know of.

The “Black Ice” Exception:

The term “black ice” is used to describe clear coating of ice that is layered over usually (black) asphalt or some other surface such as a parking lot.  Black ice is often difficult to see and the surface usually just appears wet, so even if one is paying attention he likely cannot see the real danger ahead.  Fortunately, Maryland’s highest court agreed with this way of thinking, and in two decisions issued in 2011 gave slip and fall victims a fighting chance in (black) and other ice cases. In Poole v. Coakley & Williams Construction, Inc., 2011 Md. LEXIS 659, 417 Md. 501 (October 27, 2011), the plaintiff slipped and fell on black ice while wading through a stream of water running across the parking lot at his place of employment. Mr. Poole testified that the majority of the parking lot was covered with visible ice and snow, and that he chose to walk through the stream of water because it contained no visible ice and he believed it to be safer than attempting to cross the otherwise icy parking lot.  In Thomas v. Panco Management of Maryland, Ltd., 2011 Md. LEXIS 671, 418 Md. 190 (October 31, 2011), the plaintiff was injured after slipping and falling on black ice located on the sidewalk outside her apartment complex. Ms. Thomas testified that when she left her apartment complex early on the morning of the accident, she noticed patches of snow and ice on the sidewalk. When she returned to the complex in mid-afternoon, the ice and snow had melted, leaving only wet patches on the sidewalk. Ms. Thomas came and went from her apartment several more times that day and noticed that the sidewalk was wet. She saw no signs that salt pellets or sand had been put down on the surface either.  When she left her apartment at approximately 8:00 p.m. that evening, Ms. Thomas slipped on ice, which had formed because the wet areas had now frozen over as a result of the temperature dropping.  In both cases, the defense argued the current rule, that the victims, due to the surrounding weather conditions, knew or should have known the location where they fell was icy as a matter of course even though there was no sighting of ice.  The high court disagreed, and held that it cannot automatically be assumed that a certain location is icy because conditions around it may be or because the weather at the time may be favorable to ice.  As a result of these two opinions, the property owner must now prove that the victim actually knew or should have known that the specific location of the fall was icy, i.e. the victim could see the ice, but decided to chance it anyway.

Our experienced Maryland premises liability attorneys have handled several of these snow and ice cases and have been successful in getting recoveries for our clients. If you have been injured because of the negligence of a property owner in failing to remove or treat snow or ice, or fallen on “black-ice,” please contact the Law Offices of Stuart L. Plotnick, LLC today to schedule a free case evaluation. We represent injured victims throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C., including Bethesda and Rockville residents.

 

 

 

 

WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT AGAINST U. OF ALABAMA FOR STUDENT WHO FELL OVER SIDE OF RIVER BOAT DURING SORORITY PARTY

The family of a University of Alabama student who drowned in the Black Warrior River in April 2012 has filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit days before Alabama’s statute of limitations would have prevented them from doing so.

Charles Jones is the father of Tre Jones, a 20-year-old University of Alabama student who fell into the river during a sorority’s party on the Bama Belle riverboat in April 2012. He filed the lawsuit Friday and wants $10 million for his son’s death, claiming that several parties should be held responsible for it.

Charles Jones alleges that several people were tasked with making sure no underage passengers drank alcohol that night but failed to keep his son from doing so. He also complains that not enough was done to try to save Tre as soon as he fell in the water. According to the lawsuit, a deckhand saw the man fall overboard and struggle on the surface of the river, but boat officials made no effort to stop immediately and attempt to rescue him. Divers found his body in deep water around 3 p.m. the following day.

According to the complaint, an autopsy indicated the student’s cause of death was drowning and acute alcohol intoxication, and a toxicology report showed his blood alcohol content to be .133 g/100 ml.

Included in the defendants Charles Jones named in the lawsuit are the Tuskaloosa Riverboat Company, who owned and operated the Bama Belle at the time; Stand Alone Security, a local company hired to keep the party safe and prevent minors from drinking on the boat; and the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, who hosted the riverboat party.

Jones claims that those parties failed to prevent his son from drinking and getting drunk, failed to supervise him and keep him from falling overboard, failed to rescue him and failed to notify authorities of his plight in a timely manner.