Trip and Fall Case Summary
The injured trip and fall down victim was an elderly woman who was with her husband at a doctor’s office when she tripped and fell over a large scale that was left unattended in the hallway. The personal injury victim sued for this tripping hazard. The trip and fall defendant property owner maintained that the scale was open and obvious and the lawsuit defendant was therefore not negligent.
Trip and Fall Accident Claims and Facts
The injury victim testified at her jury trial that an assiatant at the defendant office called them from the waiting room and was leading them to an examination room. The injury victim was walking behind the assistant and her husband when she tripped and fell over the scale, sustaining serious personal injuries from the fall down accident. The fall victim maintained that the scale was not visible because it was negligently placed right around the corner and could not be seen until one was right upon it. The slip and fall lawsuit defendant argued that the injured victim was at the office many times in the past, and knew about the location of the scale.
Trip and Fall Accident Lawsuit Discussion
The open and obvious defense is used often in slip trip and fall lawsuit cases where the victim is personally injured. In this trip and fall injury lawsuit, the jury agreed with the defendant’s argument, and found that the slip and fall injury victim was partly to blame for her personal injuries. That percentage of blame was decucted from her award at the end of the personal injury trial. The way this works is: the personal injury jury will agree on a value for the personal injuries the victim suffered and then subtract the percentage of the injury victim’s own nelgligence from that amount. So if the jury verdict is $100,000.00, they will deduct the injury victim’s negligence (here, 40%) from that amount, leaving the slip and fall victim with $60,000.00.