Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
Leesfield & Partners attorneys, including Partner, Justin B. Shapiro, and Trial Lawyer, Evan Robinson, recently secured a $300,000 settlement for a client who suffered a traumatic fall at a Florida resort, causing him to shatter his wrist so severely it required painful reconstructive surgery with the implantation of metal hardware.
Our client fell in the bathroom of the resort’s main pool area, which employees described as being “constantly wet” from guests tracking in water from nearby showers, pools and hot tubs. Although a drain in the bathroom floor should have allowed this water to pass through it, the drain was not functioning properly on the day of our client’s fall, leaving a pool of dirty water that created dangerous, wet conditions. To make matters worse, the resort installed tiles in the bathroom that were so smooth and slippery when wet that our expert engineer who examined and tested the tiles described them as being “nearly as slippery as ice.”
On the day of our client’s fall, the bathroom floor was soaked with dirty water and littered with wet toilet paper and towels. The fall resulted in our client shattering his wrist, requiring him to undergo reconstructive surgery and the installation of metal hardware. Moreover, as a result of his fall, our client was diagnosed with De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis Syndrome, a condition that causes extreme pain and dysfunction due to nerve damage in the hand and wrist.
Mr. Shapiro and Mr. Robinson argued that the resort’s management company was not only negligent in the selection of the substandard tiles that lacked a sufficient coefficient of friction but also in failing to maintain the bathroom in a reasonably safe condition.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners has handled countless premises liability cases throughout its 48-year history, resulting in the recovery of millions of dollars for injured clients. Florida law charges property owners with the responsibility of keeping visitors safe on their property by requiring them to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition and to warn of potential hazards of which they know of or should know of. A property owner is responsible for a person’s slip and fall injury if it can be proven that their negligence is what caused the accident. Anything from failing to warn guests about potential hazards, failing to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition or failing to comply with required safety measures can result in a property owner being held liable.
Falls are among some of the leading causes of injury to people 65 years and older in Florida, according to the latest available data from the Florida Department of Health. Some of these falls, especially in cases of older individuals, result in broken hips. An estimated 300,000 people break their hips from falls every year in the United States, according to data from Baptist Health South Florida. These painful and serious injuries can lead to a decrease in a person’s quality of life by severely limiting their movement and independence.
In June, Leesfield & Partners attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of a woman who fell at her community pool after being attacked by a neighbor’s pet bird. The woman was standing near a fence folding towels left behind by her granddaughter when a neighbor came downstairs carrying her pet bird and set it to perch on the fence. The animal reached out and bit our client on the hand, causing her to suffer a violent fall and a broken hip. The woman was taken to the hospital where doctors determined she would require invasive surgery.
Litigation is currently ongoing in that case.
Mr. Shapiro recently secured a $525,000 award for a woman in a premises liability case. The woman was helping her father move when she stepped on an improperly maintained stepping stone, causing her to lose her balance and shatter her ankle in three places. The fall caused one of the most severe fractures known to medicine and has impacted her life significantly. Since her fall, the woman has lived with incredible pain and has had to stop doing things that she once enjoyed like daily walks with her husband or standing to interact while teaching her special needs high school students.
In that case, the townhome community where the woman fell and its maintenance staff were responsible for the upkeep of the stepping stone and any changes made to the landscaping. Residents or anyone other than the maintenance staff or groundskeepers were barred from modifying the stepping stones, per the community’s declarations.
If you have a slip and fall and or trip and fall case, please call us today for a free consultation at 800-836-6400.
