slip-and-fall

Florida Costco Slip-and-Fall Falters for Failure to Prove Store’s Prior Knowledge of Spill

May 24, 2018 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

A Florida appellate court recently affirmed summary judgment favoring warehouse giant Costco in a slip-and-fall lawsuit filed by a woman who broke her knee after falling inside a Miami store.

The primary reason the case failed was because, the court held, plaintiff had not produced evidence indicating that store staffers had knowledge of the liquid substance on its entrance way floor.

The element of a store owner’s knowledge regarding a slippery substance on the floor is outlined specifically in F.S. 768.0755. This provision requires plaintiffs in Florida slip-and-fall cases to prove either actual or constructive knowledge on the part of the defendant. Actual knowledge would be if a store staffer created the condition or if they had been informed about it directly. Constructive knowledge is a little trickier, but can be established with circumstantial evidence that shows the condition listed long enough the store should have discovered it in using ordinary care or that the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.

In this case, according to Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals, plaintiff accompanied a neighbor to Costco, a store to which she had never been. When they got there, plaintiff’s neighbor went to get a shopping cart and plaintiff began walking toward the entrance. As she walked, she felt her right leg go out from underneath her, and she fell onto her left knee – breaking it. Continue reading ›

Beach Boardwalk Fall Case Goes to Trial

January 17, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Some people go to the beach fearing only the small chance they’ll encounter a shark close to shore. In fact, there are a number of other more serious hazards on land.

That’s what one man found while visiting Myrtle Beach, SC. According to a local news report, the man was staying at a local hotel in August 2014. As he leaned on a railing of a narrow boardwalk leading onto the sand, the railing gave out. The man fell off the walkway and is now suing the City of Myrtle Beach, the entity that owns and maintains the pathways that lead to the beach.

In his premises liability lawsuit, the man alleges the boardwalk was not properly built in the first place, and thereafter was not properly maintained. However, the city is relying on the state’s recreational use statute. Florida has one too. Basically, if a landowner allows their property to be used free of charge for public recreation, the rights of those people to sue the entity or company for negligence are significantly undercut. In fact, the only way to prevail is to assert gross negligence. In this case, it would mean gross negligence in the way the boardwalk was designed, constructed or kept. Plaintiff’s attorneys say they believe their case is strong. Continue reading ›

Pro Tennis Player Sues for Injuries in Slip-and-Fall

November 5, 2015 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Athletes put their bodies through punishing routines in order to ready themselves for competitions. They know they must be in top physical shape in order to win. They may even expect to get hurt in the course of competing. But when an injury happens off the field or court, it can result in serious consequences not only to their health, but their livelihood.

That’s what’s being alleged by pro-tennis player Eugenie Bouchard, who has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Tennis Association and the U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in connection with a slip-and-fall she suffered in a physical therapy room. Bouchard’s lawsuit was filed little more than a month after winning her final match at the U.S. Open.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleges she fell as a result of coming in contact with a slippery, foreign and dangerous substance on the tile floor of a physical therapy room operated by defendants. Continue reading ›