"Premises liability"

Published on: October 31, 2024

Leesfield & Partners Attorney Recovers $350,000 for Woman Who Shattered her Hip at a Florida Tourist Attraction

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.

Published on: September 23, 2024

Broward Teen Charged in Friend’s Accidental Shooting Death, police say

By Leesfield & Partners

One teen charged, another killed after the two were playing with a loaded gun at an apartment in Broward County, officials say.

The incident happened around 2:30 p.m. Monday. The teen who was hit was identified by police in reporting by The Miami Herald as 16-year-old Christopher Granados. He was taken to the hospital by emergency responders where he was pronounced dead.

The other boy involved in the incident, who was not named, was charged Tuesday with manslaughter.

Published on: August 20, 2024

Woman permanently injured after ‘stampede’ at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, lawsuit says

By Leesfield & Partners

A woman is suing Walt Disney World following claims she was permanently injured in a “stampede” that ensued before an event at its Magic Kingdom park.

The alleged incident that injured the Pennsylvania native took place on June 25, a day that saw the park “packed and extremely busy,” her attorneys claim in a premises liability lawsuit filed on Aug. 12. The park, filled with storybook characters and sprawling streets inspired by the idyllic, early-20th century hometown of the company’s namesake, sees millions of visitors a year and approximately 52,000 people a day.

The woman claims she was walking down Main Street, U.S.A., a two-block, brick-lined pathway flanked on either side by shops and restaurants leading to the iconic Cinderella’s castle, when the incident occurred. The woman was “rushed” by a crowd and knocked to the ground where she was then stampeded over. Her attorneys claim in the filing that the theme park corporation was negligent in failing to warn her of the possible danger and failed to control the crowd that had amassed in that area.

Published on: July 18, 2024

‘Nearly as slippery as ice:’ Leesfield & Partners secures a $300,000 settlement for a client who suffered a violent fall at a Florida resort

By Leesfield & Partners

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.

Published on: July 2, 2024

Police investigating after 5-year-old drowned in Miami-Dade pool. What to know to stay safe in the water this summer

By Leesfield & Partners

A 5-year-old boy died Thursday night after drowning in the backyard pool of a home in Miami-Dade County, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

Emergency responders were called out to the home, located on the 14800 block of SW 168th Terrace, just before 8 p.m. Thursday. The boy was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital for emergency treatment but was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Additional details were not immediately available Friday. The incident is under investigation by the Miami-Dade Homicide Detectives.

Published on: June 25, 2024

Leesfield & Partners attorneys settle case of woman with ‘severe and gruesome’ injuries after a fall at a townhome community

By Leesfield & Partners

Trial Attorney and Partner, Justin B. Shapiro, recently resolved a case involving a woman who fell on an unstable concrete stepping stone, causing her to lose her balance and shatter her ankle in three places.

The unstable slab was part of a walkway in a common area of the townhome community where the woman was injured. It was the responsibility of the community association to oversee any modifications to the area. In fact, under the community’s association declarations, anyone who was not a part of the community’s staff or a groundskeeper directed to change a certain area was barred from making any repairs or modifications. As a result of her fall, three bones in her ankle were shattered and displaced, categorizing the incident as the “most severe and gruesome ankle fracture known to medicine,” according to official court documents.

Before her devastating fall, the woman was an active community member, a devoted wife and mother, and a beloved special needs teacher for high school students. Following the incident, the daily 2-mile walks she and her husband used to take were impossible as was interacting with her students or standing for long periods in her classroom.

Published on: February 1, 2021

‘The Lie That Doomed This Defendant’: Miami Attorneys Land $2 Million Settlement Over Explosion

By Leesfield & Partners

When a Cape Coral man was left severely injured in an explosion on his outdoor patio because someone had accidentally left a gas grill turned on, his attorneys felt all signs pointed to a cleaning company that had stopped by the day before.

Leesfield & Partners, the plaintiff’s attorneys, had a problem, though. No direct evidence actually proved that a cleaning service staff member had been negligent — meaning, technically, it could have been anyone. The premises liability lawsuit that ensued ultimately hinged on a single deposition, as Leesfield & Partners found one witness’s lie boxed the defendant into settling the claims for its $2 million insurance policy limit.

Leesfield & Partners represented plaintiff James Dastra. He hired Sparkle and Shine Cleaning Service of SWFL LLC to professionally clean his house about twice a month, including his propane grill on the patio. Dastra’s complaint claimed their last visit put him in serious danger, alleging one cleaner caused highly-flammable propane to leak and build up by inadvertently leaving a burner knob switched on after cleaning it.

Published on: June 27, 2018

Site Inspections in Premises Liability Cases: Timing is Crucial… Get in Immediately!

By Leesfield & Partners

Experienced personal injury lawyers know all too well that dangerous conditions exist all around us as soon as we leave our home. Over the past four decades, Leesfield & Partners’s trial attorneys have seen unsuspecting members of the public suffer horrific injuries as a result of just about every conceivable construction defect, building code violation, and failure to use the slightest degree of care in maintaining premises.

In many premises liability cases, inspection of the injury location is the defining moment of the case. The attorney brings his or her wealth of experience to the scene to evaluate the conditions, and equally important, the retained experts conduct their scientific testing. The vast majority of trial lawyers appreciate the importance of site inspections; however, the need to conduct inspections immediately is often lost. Trial lawyers must do everything possible to secure their inspection as quickly as possible, which may dictate the strategy of their representation. In many cases, the failure to conduct an immediate inspection may jeopardize crucial evidence or even doom the case altogether.

IMG_3525_resize-300x200 Take for example a case our law firm recently resolved involving a negligently maintained bathtub surface at a Days Inn hotel. Our client turned on the water, took one step onto the tub surface, and slipped immediately, resulting in a significant hip fracture. Our client reported to us that the shower surface was so slippery it felt like she stepped onto ice. She explained that the anti-slip coating on the surface appeared to be excessively worn and neglected. By the time the client contacted us, weeks had already passed, and the bathtub surface remained in service for other guests. Under the law, we would not be able to arrange an expert inspection of the tub until a lawsuit was filed. Accordingly, we refused to delay by trying to resolve the case without litigation. We immediately filed our lawsuit and, with the lawsuit, served on the hotel a Notice of Inspection for the earliest possible date the rules of procedure allowed. Later, when the hotel’s attorneys asked to postpone the unilaterally scheduled inspection, we respectfully declined in the interest of our client. The inspection proceeded just weeks after we were retained, and our expert engineer confirmed the hotel’s failure to comply with industry standards for slip resistance. The most crucial evidence in the case was preserved, and the hotel ultimately settled with our client for $675,000. Had we not aggressively pursued an immediate inspection, the hotel would have had a valid argument that a later inspection would not be representative of the conditions at the time of our client’s fall due to “months and months” of continued wear and tear by continued use, scrubbing, cleaning solutions, and so on.

Published on: March 25, 2016

The importance of photographs in premises liability cases

By Leesfield & Partners

They say “a picture is worth a thousand words.” As we have seen in many of our premises liability cases, pictures can be worth far more. When our clients are severely injured as a result of dangerous or defective premises, their health is understandably their primary focus. Pain and shock take over. An ambulance is often called to rush the victims away from the scene for medical evaluation. The last thing on their mind is preserving evidence by taking photographs of the dangerous condition. Who can blame them?

Our firm recently handled a case that demonstrated just how important it is to photograph the scene after an injury. Our client was leaving a fast food restaurant when she slipped while walking down an outdoor staircase. She fell down several stairs to the ground and suffered severe injuries, requiring multiple surgeries. When her husband met her in the emergency room shortly after the incident, she explained that her foot slipped off a stair that felt “slimy” and “oily.” Her husband drove to the scene of the incident shortly thereafter and noticed that the stairs were covered in thick layers of mold and mildew, which are known to be extremely slippery on walking surfaces. He also noticed the restaurant employees preparing to scrub the staircase with soap and industrial brushes in response to his wife’s fall. He immediately took out his cell phone and snapped several photographs of the filthy staircase before it was scrubbed.

Months later, the general manager of the restaurant was shown these photographs at her deposition. She had no choice but to admit that the staircase was unacceptable and unsafe for guests. This allowed our firm to secure a settlement that covered 100% of her medical expenses and lost wages, and a substantial additional sum for her pain and suffering. Had her husband not taken those photographs, it would have been far more difficult to prove the extent of this hazard, or that the hazard existed at all.

Published on: February 27, 2014

Unsafe and neglected balcony railings lead to fall and catastrophic injuries

By Leesfield & Partners

A month after falling off the balcony at a North Bay Village apartment complex, Jimmy O’Reilly is still at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Critically injured, it is still unknown whether Jimmy will be able to walk again.

In its on-camera investigation, Local 10 asked the same questions attorneys with the firm have been asking; Where were the owner and the property manager? Why were the balconies and railings never fixed despite numerous complaints by multiple tenants?

“This was a recipe for disaster. You have an absentee owner and a property manager that was indifferent to the tenant complaints. Owners and managers must be responsible for maintaining their property. When they are not, and good people are gravely injured, it is our job to hold them accountable to the fullest extent the law allows” attorneys with the firm said.