Evan Robinson, a Leesfield & Partners Trial Lawyer, secured a $350,000 settlement for a woman who shattered her hip as a result of a violent fall at a Monroe County tourist attraction.
Our client visited the popular tourist attraction while on vacation in the Keys with her husband. As the couple navigated the property’s narrow and crowded walkway, that was supposed to be flanked with gravel on both sides, our client stepped off the edge of the walkway and into a trench in an area where there was no gravel. As a result, our client lost her balance and fell violently onto the concrete ground, causing an injury that would forever alter her previously active lifestyle.
During the course of the litigation, Mr. Robinson learned that the walkway on which our client fell posed a dangerous hazard that was well-known to numerous employees and managers who worked at the attraction. Specifically, the frequent displacement of gravel caused by visitors constantly kicking it around resulted in the walkway repeatedly becoming unlevel. This recurring hazard presented such a serious danger that it required daily inspections and maintenance for over 16 years. In fact, every employee who worked at the attraction was instructed to keep watch over this area and bags of additional gravel were kept on site so that maintenance personnel could re-level the walkway when the gravel was displaced.
Impact
This traumatic incident required our client to endure two reconstructive surgeries and over 60 agonizing sessions of physical therapy to help treat her injuries.. Before her fall, our client loved taking long walks with her husband and playing in her women’s golf league with friends. Since this incident, however, our client’s independence has been significantly reduced, leaving even the most mundane, daily tasks difficult for her to complete.
Mr. Robinson successfully argued that the tourist attraction was negligent in its maintenance of the walkway despite its awareness of a known, constantly recurring danger and that, if the property owner had made simple, yet permanent modifications to the walkway, this incident would not have never occurred.
The case was settled Mr. Robinson secured a six-figure recovery for the injured woman.
Florida Law
Under Florida law, the owner of the property where our client fell owed its business invitees a non-delegable duty to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition and to warn them of any dangers which it knew or should have known about. This legal principle applies to all premises liability cases, including those stemming from instances of negligent security, carbon monoxide poisoning, slip and falls, and dog bites.
Leesfield & Partners History
Falls can oftentimes result in life-changing injuries and, in more extreme cases, death. In our 48 years of serving clients throughout Florida, Leesfield & Partners has handled a wide array of fall cases with considerable consequences to clients due to the negligence of property owners and/or property management companies.
The Centers for Disease Control have reported that nearly 1.8 million people over the age of 65 annually visit emergency rooms across the country to treat fall injuries. The National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), an organization that implements industry standards to reduce these types of accidents, lists falls as the second leading cause of injury-related death for people aged 65 to 84. Half of the people with hip fractures are unlikely to return to a life of independence, according to the NFSI.
A notable case handled by our firm includes that of a young client who fell from a rickety, second-story apartment balcony, causing him to sustain a severe spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed. The landlord, in that case, had previously been made aware of the issues associated with the hazardous railings in several apartments and, to cut corners and save money, neglected to fix them. A $7 million settlement was reached for our client in that case.
In a recent settlement obtained by Justin B. Shapiro, a Partner and Trial Attorney at our firm, a $1.8 million, record settlement was secured for a client injured at a Florida vacation rental. The client in that case fell while in a shower with tiles that were so dangerous experts deemed them “inappropriate for use on any flooring, much less a shower floor.” The tiles slipped under the notice of any inspector because the property owner was illegally renting it out, leaving renters vulnerable to injury from the unchecked perils.
The man’s pelvic bone was reduced to “breadcrumbs,” and he now lives in constant pain. Before the accident, his life consisted of working as a maintenance technician, coaching his daughter’s softball team, and hiking and fishing trips with his family.
Another case handled by Mr. Robinson resulted in a $350,000 settlement for a client who fell down a dangerous set of stairs that were in violation of numerous code provisions. Compounding the danger, the property owner installed a boat ore as a hand railing, leaving the man unable to catch himself as he fell.