Slip, Trip and Fall Lawsuit Where Plaintiff Fell While Walking up a
Staircase*
Case
Summary:
This is a review of a slip, trip and fall lawsuit.
In this case a woman fell while walking up the steps of an office
building due to a defect
in the steps' concrete. The injuries she sustained during the fall
required her to be hospitalized and to miss several weeks of work while
she convalesced.
After recovering, she made several attempts to negotiate a settlement
with the office building’s insurance
company out-of-court. These negotiations failed to bring about an
agreement.
Frustrated, the woman retained a personal injury attorney and filed
a slip, trip and fall lawsuit.
Statement of Facts...
On March 2nd, 2011, at around 8:30 a.m., Angela
Lei was walking up
the steps to her work when she stubbed her foot on a piece of concrete
protruding from one of the steps.
She fell, and as she did she put her
hands out to try to brake her fall. Several passersby saw Lei fall and
called for paramedics.
The
fall to the concrete had left Lei with contusions and
lacerations to both her face and hands. After stabilizing
her,
paramedics transported Lei to Mt. Sinai hospital where she received 13
stiches to her face and a plaster cast for her wrist. Lei had to remain
in the hospital for two days.
Once out of the hospital, Lei spent another three
weeks recovering
at home before resuming work. All told, her losses amounted to $14,612
in medical bills with another $1,600 in lost wages.
Lei contacted the building's owner, Coop
Investments, and informed
them that she believed
Coop was responsible for the defect and was
therefore liable
for her injuries. Coop's insurance company agreed to
enter into negotiations for a settlement, but the negotiations
eventually broke down.
Deciding that no more progress could be made
outside of court, Lei
filed a lawsuit against Coop alleging negligence on their part as
building owners. Coop in response, filed a Motion for Summary Judgment
asking the court to dismiss the case.
The Lawsuit & Motion of Summary Judgment...
Lei’s slip, trip and fall lawsuit stated Coop had
a standard
of reasonable care to make sure their property, including, but not
limited to the steps upon which Lei fell and was injured, was safe for
the public.
Lei alleged Coop’s breach of that standard of
reasonable care constituted negligence.
As a result of Coop’s
negligence Lei complains she was seriously injured.
In her lawsuit
Lei sought the following damages and compensation:
- Her medical bills
- Her out of pocket expenses (including
prescription and over
the counter medicine, and other items required for her
treatment)
- Her lost wages
- Her pain and suffering
Coop answered Lei’s allegations the slip, trip
and fall lawsuit by filing a Motion for Summary Judgment.
In civil cases, a motion for summary judgment is a
legal document,
or “pleading” which is filed by one of the parties in a
lawsuit
– usually the defendant. The motion is usually filed
before the actual trial gets underway.
The
Motion attempts to prove to
the court that the plaintiff hasn’t alleged any real facts for a
jury to base their decision upon and that the plaintiff’s
lawsuit fails to show he has a prima
facie case. Instead, the defendant
asserts that what the plaintiff alleges is nothing more than
speculation, conjecture, or
conclusions, but no real facts.
If the court agrees with the defendant,
the court grants the defendant’s motion and dismisses the case
right then and there. If the court denies the defendant’s
motion, the case proceeds to trial.
In its motion, Coop stated the facts alleged in
Lei’s lawsuit
did not contain a Prima
Facie case and did not include any evidence to
show Coop had actual notice of the “defect” in the
steps. Coop also stated the defect was so minor as to not be
relevant.
Coop stated there were thousands of tenants and
other members of the
public who climbed those same steps daily, and that at least in the 10
years the office
building was built and opened to the public, no one
had ever filed a complaint about the protrusion, nor, as far as Coop
knew, was anyone ever injured.
Coop
went on to state Lei offered no proof her fall was as a result
of the defect, and that Lei probably fell of her own accord,
wholly
independent of the steps’ alleged defect. Coop asked the Court to grant
its Motion for Summary Judgment and by
granting it dismiss Lei’s slip, trip and fall lawsuit against
them.
Outcome...
Court's Decision on the Motion:
After hearing the pre-trial testimony of the
plaintiff and the
testimony of the passersby who came to Lei’s assistance, the
court
was convinced the facts Lei alleged in her lawsuit petition were
factual and constituted a prima facie case. As a result, the court
denied Coop’s Motion for Summary Judgment and the case proceeded
to trial.
Jury Verdict on the Injury Suit:
After listening to the evidence presented by Lei
in her slip, trip
and fall lawsuit, including, but not limited to photographs of the
defect, testimony of witnesses, Lei’s medical bills, out of
pocket expenses, and lost wages, the jury found for the plaintiff Lei
and against the defendant Coop.
The jury awarded Lei the amount of
$16,624 for her actual expenses, and $25,000 for Lei’s pain and
suffering. The total verdict was $41,624.
Important
Points...
- A person or entity that does
business and is open to the public has
a duty to the public to make sure their property is safe.
That
doesn’t necessarily mean the person or entity is responsible for
every single possible defect on the property. That would be impossible.
Instead, the law states that as long as the person or entity has
exercised a “standard
of reasonable care” to do
everything within reason to protect the public, that it may not be
responsible for those injuries which may occur and which couldn’t
possibly have been detected by the defendant’s exercising a
standard
of reasonable care.
- Once a case gets past the
pre-trial motions which are sometimes filed
by defendants, it will
be up to a jury to decide if a defendant
breached their standard of reasonable care; and if so did
that breach
of the standard of reasonable care constitute negligence.
If there was
negligence which resulted in injuries to the plaintiff, the question
then becomes how much compensation should the jury award.
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*This
case example is for educational purposes only. It is based on actual
events although names have been changed to protect those involved. Any
resemblance to real persons or entities is purely coincidental.
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