Premises Liability
Our client, a 29 year old mother of three, was shopping at a supermarket when she slipped and fell on a puddle of water near the register. As a result of the accident, our client injured her ankle and knee. Her injuries ultimately required her to undergo surgery.
The defendants contended that our client tripped and fell over her high heeled flip flops, and emphasized the fact that her clothes were not wet after she fell. Additionally, none of the defendant's employees who were deposed saw any water on the floor near the register were they were working. Additionally, the defendants contended that since our client did not receive medical treatment for over two weeks after the accident, her injuries were unrelated to the fall in the store.
Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP was able to convince the defendants that our client saw the puddle of water near the register forty five minutes before her accident, and told the butcher about the dangerous condition. Additionally, the firm was able to obtain a so-called “negative inference instruction” because the defendants had failed to preserve video evidence from the day of the accident. Finally, during his investigation of the case, the firm located an e-mail exchange between a former employee of the defendants and our client just eight days after the accident, in which our client complained of knee pain. Based on this evidence the case settled before trial for $200,000.