Christian & Small Partners Rick D. Norris and Richard E. Smith successfully defended a long-time restaurant client and its manager in a slip-and-fall case tried before Judge Boohaker in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County.
The plaintiff and her husband arrived at the restaurant for breakfast before heading to church one Sunday morning. The plaintiff fell in front of several witnesses as she entered the restaurant, and the fall was recorded on the restaurant’s security cameras. The plaintiff claimed she could no longer work following the accident and underwent surgery to fuse discs in her back and neck.
The restaurant defended the case on the basis that it was raining heavily that morning, and that the plaintiff did not carry an umbrella. Further, the restaurant staff was mopping the floor on a regular basis that morning, and that a reasonable person should have known the floor may have been slippery because of the rainwater tracked into the restaurant.
After a week-long trial, the jury returned a defense verdict in favor of the restaurant and its manager.