Brielle C. Goldfaden, attorney with Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP, obtained a $300,000 settlement for a woman who was injured after a slip-and-fall on a wet floor in a hospital in the Bronx, prior to visiting a friend in the emergency room. The emergency room nursing station had a self-pour water pitcher, which had been allowed to drip and was not cleaned up in a timely manner. As the plaintiff was walking by the nursing desk to reach her ill friend, she slipped and fell, injuring both of her knees.
One knee, which was operated on years earlier, was hurt badly, and an MRI showed new damage despite the underlying injury. Brielle’s client, who was 55 years old at the time, went on to have knee surgery a few years later to address the traumatic arthritis that developed as a result of the ER fall.
Initially, the hospital denied knowledge of what caused the plaintiff to fall, but later an occurrence report surfaced, which confirmed that the plaintiff’s fall was witnessed by two nurses, and that the floor was wet. Brielle C. Goldfaden was able to settle the case for $300,000 while awaiting a trial date.