After a fall on stairs, a woman is suing New York City’s Stumble Inn [Reuven Fenton and Kate Sheehy, New York Post]
Posts Tagged ‘slip and fall’
Great moments in slip and fall claims
The First Circuit has upheld a trial court’s dismissal on summary judgment of an outside worker’s suit against an auto dealership over a slip-fall injury he incurred on the floor in its garage and service area. The court noted that the reason for his presence at the dealership was that his company had been hired to clean it, and that he had said in his deposition that “typically there would be oil and grease everywhere” on that part of the floor after a day’s operations. Besides deeming the hazard to be open and obvious, the trial court had “noted Massachusetts precedent holding that a property owner does not owe a duty of care to a plaintiff where ‘the danger presented to the plaintiff was one that he had been hired to cure.'” [LaPointe v. Silko Motor Sales, First Circuit]
Liability roundup
- Ill-fated names: Londonderry woman sues over fall at Stumble Inn Bar and Grill [Jason Schreiber, New Hampshire Union Leader]
- After starting out as a “humanistic attorney,” lawyer in time comes to net $700,000/year “by sending San Diego workers’ compensation claimants to dirty medical providers” as part of spinal surgery scam that U.S. Justice Department said “cost insurers $500 million over a 15-year period.” [Jim Sams, Claims Journal]
- Lengthy report on creative litigation by municipalities, often done in close harness with contingent-fee private lawyers, explores ill effects and what might be done to rein the process in [Rob McKenna (former Washington State AG), Elbert Lin (former West Virginia SG), and Drew Ketterer (former Maine AG) for U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform]
- “Trial lawyers are paying millions to a handful of experts necessary to push their talc cases” [Dan Fisher, Legal NewsLine, earlier]
- New York City Council Speaker: “Corey Johnson targets Scaffold Law in plan to fix MTA” [Carl Campanile, New York Post, earlier on New York’s unique, pro-plaintiff Scaffold Law]
- “Law Firms Objecting to Mesh Fees Accuse Leadership of Self-Dealing, Bill-Padding” [Amanda Bronstad, Law.com, earlier]
Liability roundup
- Due diligence? Prosecutors say $32 million staged slip-fall ring drew on services of litigation finance firm [Matthew Goldstein and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, New York Times]
- Federalist Society podcast previews Frank v. Gaos, Ted Frank’s case on cy pres in a Google settlement;
- Will public get to look at details of $75 million class action fee that has been subject to criticism? [John O’Brien, Legal NewsLine and Max Brantley, Arkansas Times on State Street Bank and Trust settlement] Update: special master said to find attorney misconduct and recommend substantial fee refund [Chris Villani, Law360 (sub)]
- “Recent developments have let the air out of slack-fill lawsuits” [Meghana Shah, Brittany Cambre and Amber Unwala, New York Law Journal, earlier on slack fill] Theater-box candy suit: “Don’t squash our Junior Mints” [Chicago Tribune editorial]
- Tales of the Food Court: California class-action climate encourages flimsy claims against beer and bean purveyors [Greg Herbers, WLF]
- Supreme Court of Canada: commercial garage not liable for injury suffered by teen while stealing car from lot [Rankin (Rankin’s Garage & Sales) v. J.J.]
“Robot Patrols Grocery Store to Prevent Slip-and-Falls”
Marty, a robot, patrols the aisles in a Giant food store in Pennsylvania, part of a test program of a technology developed by a Kentucky company. “The robot is equipped with scanners so he doesn’t bump into displays or shoppers. He also has several internal cameras that reach about three fourths of the way down aisles,” a manager for Ahold USA said. “The robot’s main job right now is to scan for trip or slip hazards on the floor,” which can reduce liability payouts not only by aiding rapid cleanup of spills, but also by documenting that the site of a spill had not been the scene of a slip hazard for very long, reducing the chance of a finding of liability. [Sue Gleiter, PennLive via TortsProf/Robinette]
Wal-Mart told to pay $7.5 million in Alabama customer fall
A Phenix City, Alabama Wal-Mart customer caught his foot in a display pallet and fell while lifting a watermelon. A jury has now told the retailer to pay him $7.5 million. [Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, AL.com]
Oz court: supermarkets need not shadow shoppers against slip hazards
A court in Australia has ordered costs against a claimant who had sued a grocery store after a slip-fall, after finding that “the grape could not have been on the floor longer than 10 minutes… and it was not realistic to expect every piece of vegetable matter which fell to the floor be picked up instantly.” [Harriet Alexander, Melbourne Age via Tortylicious on Facebook]:
“Coles is not bound to ensure the absolute safety of entrants to its stores,” he said.
“It must take reasonable care.
“Coles could not have been expected to ensure safety by, for example, having several staff in every aisle doing nothing but watching for dropped vegetable matter, or by allocating a staff member to ‘shadow’ every customer as they walked around the store.”
Former crime boss wants $10 million over prison ping-pong slip-fall
A former crime family boss convicted of racketeering but acquitted on murder charges is “suing the federal government for $10 million over injuries from a game of prison ping-pong. The table tennis tumble happened Aug. 29, 2013, while Gioeli was being held at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.” [NY Daily News]
Al Sharpton’s daughter, suing NYC from high places
“Dominique Sharpton posted pictures to Instagram showing she completed a difficult mountain climb in Bali, Indonesia — even though her suit says that ‘she still suffers’ debilitating pain after twisting her ankle in a street crack in Soho last year.” [New York Post and more (“Al Sharpton’s daughter sues city for $5M after spraining ankle”)]
Liability roundup
- “Judge dismisses Brady Center’s lawsuit. Ammo retailers not to blame for Aurora theater killer” [Denver Post via @davekopel]
- “Ever been in a crowded subway car when a gunfight broke out? I have.” And it relates to slip-fall cases [Eric Turkewitz]
- No more of Prosser’s tricks: Scalia warns modern Restatements “of questionable value, must be used with caution” [Orin Kerr]
- Impact of revelations in Garlock document trove continues to ripple: “Insurer Claims Asbestos Fraud Tainted Pittsburgh Corning Bankruptcy” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes, earlier]
- Trial lawyer allies want to make California’s insurer-shackling Prop 103 even (if possible) worse [Ian Adams, Insurance Journal, see also]
- “The settlement shakedown”: Scott Shackford on the Moonlight Fire case in California [Reason, earlier]
- This must be what they call a hellhole jurisdiction [comic book cover via Jim Dedman, Abnormal Use]