Articles Posted in Premises Liability

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Anthony Waring was a worker for a company that owned and operated an assisted-living facility. Waring was in the process of retrieving a snow shovel from a shed on the facility’s grounds. He fell on snow and ice as he was walking down the ramp leading from the shed.

Waring was 22 years old at the time and suffered herniated disks at L3-S1 and bulging disks at C4-6. He also developed radiculopathy, which caused pain radiating from his lower back into both of his legs. 

After the injury, Waring underwent four months of physical therapy and epidural steroid injections, but he continued to suffer pain. He might in the future require the implanting of a spinal stimulator to help with his pain problem.  Since the incident, he has not returned to work.

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The plaintiff, Mark Zimmerman, 44, lived in a three-story building. The building came with a deck attached to an exterior stairwell. As Zimmerman was leaving for work, he bent over to pick something up while holding on to the deck railing. The railing collapsed.  Zimmerman fell three stories to the ground, fracturing his right ankle. He also suffered lumbar fractures at L2 and L4. 

Zimmerman underwent two ankle surgeries and a spinal fusion surgery. His medical bills totaled more than $400,000. Before the date of this incident, Zimmerman worked as a school janitor. He has not returned to work since.

In a lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., Zimmerman sued the owner of the building and its management company. He alleged premises liability because of the defective railing, saying it was unsafe and caused his injuries. 

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The Missouri Supreme Court is considering whether the “baseball rule” applies to an eye injury caused accidentally by the Kansas City Royals’ mascot Sluggerrr, who flung a foil-wrapped hot dog that struck the left eye of John Coomer. Although this seemingly harmless act would ordinarily be of no consequence, the foiled hot dog hit the left eye of Mr. Coomer, requiring two eye surgeries.  He has a serious eye injury today with vision deficit. 

The “baseball rule” is a legal standard that protects sports teams from being sued over fan injuries caused by events on the field.  The issue in this case, now pending a decision before the Missouri Supreme Court, is whether the rule would apply to injuries caused by a mascot or other personnel the teams employ to entertain sports fans.

The case was first before a Jackson County, Mo., jury two years ago. The jury sided with the Royals, stating that Coomer was completely at fault for his injury because he wasn’t aware of what was going on around him. However, on appeal, the jury’s verdict was overturned; the ruling stated that although being struck by a baseball is an inherent risk fans assume at games, being hit in the face and eye by a hot dog is not one of those.

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Marbella Smilovitz, 51, brought her car to the defendant McGrath City Honda for repairs to fix a flat tire.  It was July 31, 2010.  The dealership is located at 6720 W. Grand Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 

The McGrath employees brought Smilovitz to her car in the service area to show her the flat tire while her car was raised up about 6 feet on a hydraulic lift.  Smilovitz then asked an employee to lower the car so she could take out her cell phone from the center console. She stood next to the car as it was being lowered. One of the employees of McGrath claimed that he was standing next to Smilovitz and planned to get her phone for her once the car reached the floor. However, she started stepping toward the car before the lift had fully reached the ground and her left big toe was pinched under the arm of the metal hydraulic lift. 

Smilovitz sustained a degloving injury to the tip of her big toe with loss of skin and toenail requiring skin grafting. There was permanent scarring on the end of her toe. She had $63,977 in medical expenses.

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On April 10, 2010, Daniel Coile, 33, went to Shepherd’s Closet, a store, to pick up a desk purchased by his mother. Coile was told that he would need to load the desk into his car by way of a loading dock at the rear of the store.  Shepherd’s Closet or Closet Two is located in Gibson City, Ill.

At the loading dock there was an unsecured railroad tie that went along the face of the dock. While Coile was attempting to load the desk, he placed his left foot on the railroad tie to get closer to the dock, but the tie slid as he lifted the desk causing his left knee to twist.

Coile suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee and required reconstructive surgery and physical therapy. As a result of his injury, Coile was unable to work for 4 months as a deputy sheriff.

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A $5 million jury verdict was handed down in the first of the federal multidistrict litigation cases involving patients claiming injury from the body scan contrast agent gadolinium. The Ohio jury found GE Healthcare chose not to provide the necessary health risk warnings with patients with impaired kidney function when gadolinium is used in a body scan. The gadolinium product is a contrast dye used in MRI and other radiographic scanning.

The plaintiff in this case developed an untreatable skin disease called nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) as a result of being injected with the Omniscan for magnetic resonance angiogram. Omniscan is the prescription medication with gadolinium as a product that is used to screen patients for acute kidney injury or other conditions related to reduced renal function.

The drug makers of the Omniscan product, GE Healthcare, Bayer and Covidien have defended hundreds of lawsuits claiming injuries from the gadolinium-based contrast agent products. 

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Justin Hasty, 24, was a Wonder Bread deliveryman making a delivery to the Jewel Store in Aurora, Ill., when he slipped and fell in an employee break room. Hasty was directed to the room by a Jewel employee. Before this incident, the break room was being stripped and waxed by an independent contractor, defendant Score Group, Inc. Jewel hired an independent janitorial management services company to clean its stores nationwide. The janitorial service company then contracted the work at this store to the defendant Score Group.

Because of his fall, Hasty sustained spinal injuries resulting in three separate low back fusion surgeries. This left his entire spine fused from T-12 to S-1. He has a permanent 20-pound lifting restriction. He is unable to return to his work as a delivery driver.

Hasty argued that there was special cleaning work going on, which made it the responsibility of Jewel to warn him of the dangerous condition and direct him not to use the break room.

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On Sept. 30, 2006, Kathleen Nelson slipped and fell on a wet floor while walking down a hallway at the Merchandise Mart.  She was employed there in one of the showrooms. The floor was wet from water that had dripped from a mop used by a maintenance worker employed by the defendant, Millard Group.

The fall was captured on a surveillance video, which showed that the Millard employee left a washroom with the mop, but no bucket. That procedure violated the company policy on mopping floors. A security guard employed by defendants had walked right past the spot where Nelson fell, just a minute before. Apparently the maintenance worker did not see water on the floor until plaintiff showed him after she fell.

Nelson, 54, sustained soft tissue injuries to her neck and back and required 6 months of physical therapy. She also suffered anxiety and panic attacks for two weeks following the incident. Nelson developed post-traumatic stress disorder from the occurrence along with arm tremors. She claimed $48,824 in medical expenses and $10,000 lost time for four months when she was unable to work as a part-time showroom salesperson.

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The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a decision by a Cook County Circuit Court judge regarding the plaintiff’s failure to offer evidence to satisfy an element of a cause of action. In that respect, the trial judge entered summary judgment, which has now been affirmed by the higher court.

In November 2008, John Lohmeier was with a friend at a doctor’s appointment on the 11th floor of a Chicago office building.  While there, Lohmeier requested and obtained a key to gain access to the men’s bathroom. The bathroom was located in a common area at the end of the hallway. The restroom had a step up near the doorway.

When Lohmeier opened the door and took a step, he caught his foot on the step.  He fell onto the bathroom floor, sustaining injuries to his knee, shoulder and mouth. A lawsuit was filed because of his injuries. At Lohmeier’s deposition, he testified that he had not seen a sign on the wall across from the door warning incoming patrons of the step. That sign was the only warning sign in the bathroom.

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