Steven Sundook and Taylor Ligman (Ft. Myers, FL) (Premises Liability/Slip and Fall) obtained a Defense Verdict following a three-day jury trial in Sarasota, Florida. Plaintiff, a 66-year-old woman, fell in the lobby of a North Venice, Florida Regions Bank on October 11, 2018. Ms. Wells claimed she tripped over a “transition strip” between a carpeted area and tile area. Applicable codes require any change in elevations be no greater the ¼ inch. An expert hired by Ms. Wells’ lawyers opined that the transition strip measured slightly above ¼ inch and was the cause of her fall.
Plaintiff had a long history of knee problems dating back to at least 2009. She had previously had surgery to repair meniscal tears in both knees and had required total knee replacement of both knees since 2017. By July 2018, her left knee pain was so bad it was affecting her ability to do activities of daily life (ADLs). She continued to have her left knee injected. 11 weeks before she fell in the bank she had another injection in her left knee. She reported the pain was so bad it made it difficult for her to walk.
Plaintiff claimed she was in no pain or discomfort at the time of the fall. She made a deposit for her ailing mother on that day. Surveillance video showed her walking into the bank and walking across tile to carpet and back to tile to the teller window. After she made her deposit, she walked from tile to carpet and then fell in the area of transition back to tile. Unfortunately, the frame rate of the surveillance video was such that the video showed her before and after she fell but did not show her beginning to fall or show what caused her to fall.
The Defense expert measured several areas of the transition strip between the tile and carpet and found them all to be less than ¼ inch meeting the applicable code requirements. In Plaintiff’s rebuttal case, Plaintiff’s expert testified that the Defense expert’s use of a “profile gauge” was subjective and dependent upon how much force was used to push down on the gauge. The defense expert testified that the Plaintiff’s expert use of a measuring tape held at an angle and photographed form above produced “parallax error”, and that photos of Plaintiff’s expert showed him compressing the carpet to achieve his measurement of slightly over ¼ inch.
Plaintiff testified that the gash in her knee was very painful, required staples to close without the use of anesthesia and became infected. She was required to wear a full leg brace for over two months.
Plaintiff blackboarded approximately $20,000.00 in medical bills and asked for $150,000.00 in closing arguments. After 1½ hours, the jury returned a verdict of no negligence on the part of the bank causing Plaintiff’s fall. We are moving for a judgment against the Plaintiff for attorney fees pursuant to a proposal for settlement for $1,500.00 made in 2019.