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Slip and Fall
Personal Injury
Case Study
The following slip and fall personal injury case demonstrates some
important legal issues involved in premises liability claims. We'll
review the
accident,
liability,
injuries, negotiations, and the final case resolution.
The Accident...
Jack and Mary were in grocery store doing their regular
shopping. There had been a terrible rain storm earlier that
day and the ground outside of the store was wet and pooled in some
areas.
Upon entering the store and cruising down aisle three, they
could not see that water was dripping from the ceiling from an apparent
hole in the roof. This water was allowed to pool and collect
with no signage or cones to ward off potential shoppers.
As
they approached, Mary took a step and immediately slipped.
She attempted to hold onto the basket to no avail as she landed on her
tail bone twisting her body to the right. In excruciating
pain, she could not move.
Jack ran to the nearest employee
and relayed what happened at which time they took an incident
report. In the report, there was a blank area that read: “was
there any signage or warnings” and without their knowing, the employee
simply wrote “yes.”
However just as Mary was going to sign
the statement, she noticed this and asked the employee to please cross
off and initial that, in fact, there were no signs.
Liability...
In this slip and fall personal injury case, the owner of the store was liable for the injury to Mary.
Property owners are responsible to make periodic inspections of their
property and to warn of any known dangers and hazards. Had
the store owner done so (or instructed his employees to do so), he
would have know about the hole in the roof and the leaking
water.
One
argument against this theory is that, in a rain
storm, water can pool so quickly that there is no time to
inspect. However this was not a successful argument because
evidence was submitted that in the 5 rain storms prior, the store owner
knew about the leaky roof (because it always leaked), but would
not shell out the money to repair it.
Injuries...
Mary suffered a broken tail bone and a sprained ankle from her
fall. She also missed 4 weeks of work where she was employed
as secretary making $500 per week and was required to wear an
expensive brace ($550.00) which was covered by her insurance. She
went to 4 months of physical therapy totaling $8,000. Her total damages were $10,550.
Negotiations...
The insurance for the store denied Mary's slip and fall personal injury claim at first stating that she
fell due to her own clumsiness and that the claim form initially said
there were warnings. They argued that Mary crossed out this statement,
not the employee.
Mary immediately hired an attorney who
wasted no time and filed a lawsuit. This enabled him to commence
discovery where he deposed (or questioned) the employee about:
1.
Whether he had crossed off the statement; and
2. Whether the store owner
previously knew of the leak roof.
The attorney was able to
establish these factors in his client's favor. Subsequently,
the attorney re-submitted a demand letter with his supporting
documentation for $45,000.
The insurance company countered
with $18,000 arguing that her treatment was excessive and that Mary
was a woman with a large build which contributed to her injury.
Final
Settlement...
The insurance company ultimately settled for $30,000 on the eve of
trial because the attorney remained confident in his case.
Important
Points...
- Slip and fall personal injury cases can be hard to win. Many attorneys will not take them due to the difficulty in proving them
and the amount of money involved.
- When an attorney (or party) wants to start
discovery right away in a difficult case, he/she will file the law suit
which then gives them the right to ask questions and conduct
depositions.
- Incident reports are very important because
they are completed at a time when the information is fresh in your
mind. But read them carefully to ensure that the employee or
supervisor completing the form is accurate.
Return
from Slip and Fall Personal Injury to Slip and Fall Accident
Return
from Slip and Fall Personal Injury to Personal
Injury Settlement Guide
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