Attorney Scott C. Murray and paralegal Joshua Cadrin recently resolved a trip and fall injury claim against the third party company whose employee created a hazard while working at a store.
Our client went shopping at her local grocery store just prior to checking out, she reached into a small cooler near the checkout counter
to grab a soda. As she did that, the soda vendor employee, who happened to be working at the store, placed a case of soda on the floor behind her. As our client turned around after retrieving her soda, she tripped and fell over the case of soda and sustained significant injuries to her knee and lower back.
Initially, the Murray Guari Team pursued the property owner and store operator under a premises liability theory. After completing a thorough investigation, the MG Team determined that the real culprit was the soda vendor’s employee and switched their focus to a general negligence claim.
Ultimately, the soda vendor accepted the fact that its employee created the dangerous condition that caused our client to trip and be injured. Nevertheless, it then tried to argue that our client’s injuries were not caused by her fall, yet it could not point to some other cause. Our client had no previous complaints regarding her knee and lower back and the onset of her symptoms began immediately after her trip and fall.
After providing records and recommendations by our client’s treating doctors, some of whom identified her trip and fall as the sole cause of her injuries, the soda vendor finally came to the negotiating table with a fair and reasonable settlement favorable to our client. Because of this resolution, our client can receive the treatment she needs. We hope the soda vendor will initiate additional training for its employees to be more careful in the future, since this trip and fall could have been easily avoided had the employee exercised common sense and reasonable care.
