Case Results
Gordon & Silber Obtains Defense Verdict for a Storefront Operator Against a Woman who Slipped on Ice — November 2007.
Type of Case: Fall on a sidewalk. Alleged negligent maintenance of a sidewalk.
Venue: New York Supreme Court, Kings County
Background Facts: This personal injury action arose out of an incident on a public sidewalk, located in front of our client's storefront premises. The plaintiff alleged that she sustained a fractured patella, requiring a tendon resection with metallic suturing, due to an ice condition that accumulated in a crack on the sidewalk and an alleged failure to apply salt.
Special Problems: Plaintiff was a credible, articulate female in her 60's who testified that the first time she saw the ice was when she was already on the sidewalk. She described the ice as solid and black. She denied that it was raining, snowing or sleeting for some time prior to her accident.
Our Strategy: We emphasized that our client was a conscientious store owner who periodically checked the weather conditions and concluded based upon the continuing nature of the precipitation (rain/sleet) it did not need to be shoveled.
We presented evidence that on the night of the accident, our client had closed the store early and thus, was not open at the time of the accident. We argued that store owners are given by law, a reasonable amount of time after the cessation of a storm to address ice conditions. We also used a forensic meteorological expert to bolster our case that the storm had ceased 15 minutes prior to the accident — after our client had closed his store.
We argued that the jury could not find our client responsible without concluding that our client was required to stand in front of his store after he closed, waiting to determine whether the sidewalk would freeze due to dropping temperature.
Result: Shortly after the case was given to the jury, they came back with a defense verdict.
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