The manager of a Burger King restaurant was walking through the parking lot of her store when she noticed a newspaper stuck underneath some bushes, about ten feet from the restaurant door. As she walked toward the bushes, intending to pick up the newspaper, she stepped off the sidewalk into a mulched area, where she tripped on a stump and injured her knee.
The New Jersey Appellate Division recently reversed a trial court’s dismissal of a falldown case, raising some instructive points. The plaintiff had slipped and fallen on black ice near a metal drainage grate in her employer’s parking lot and sued the owner of the building and lot.The trial court judge found that prior complaints of ice in the parking lot were insufficient to constitute constructive notice of icing conditions in the area of the lot where the plaintiff fell.
In 2014, our truck driver client “Danny” was involved in a collision which caused personal injuries and collision damage to another driver and her vehicle. At that time, he reported the accident to the lessee company to which he had leased the vehicle for commercial hauling purposes. Unfortunately, without counsel, Danny was unable to confirm coverage for the accident, although he was being charged for insurance consistently. He also had his own “bobtail” coverage for his tractor so long as it was not pulling a trailer (and therefore not available as coverage for this particular accident). Danny’s troubles were exacerbated by the fact that he is an immigrant with limited English communication skills.
In a recent New Jersey Federal court decision, a judge denied Wal-Mart’s motion for summary judgment and determined that the plaintiff was entitled to a trial on his claim for personal injuries arising in defendant’s store. Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that he tripped and fell over a fishing wire which Wal-Mart employees failed to reel in from a display but rather left on the floor.
We recently settled a client’s personal injury claim resulting from an automobile accident in Morris County without litigation for $37,500.00. The other driver had struck our client head on, but with nominal collision damage. We were faced with trying to prove permanency on knee and back injuries, with mainly chiropractic treatment and some diagnostic tests.
I am pleased to share our recent $400,000 settlement of a slip and fall accident case just prior to trial. My client had been walking to the train station when he fell on a commercial sidewalk covered with ice concealed by a new layer of snow. He had a significant leg fracture that required two surgeries.
When a driver who lives outside of New Jersey happens to be operating her motor vehicle within the State of New Jersey and is involved in an accident, she will be subject to the “Deemer Statute”. That can be found at N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.4.
Joe Jogger is taking his morning run in Jersey State Park. He is rehabbing from surgery on a torn meniscus. Doug Luvver is walking his prized pitbull and Pekingese on leashes nearby. Neither dog has ever attacked anyone before.
