Case details
Dealership failed to take steps to prevent slip and fall: patron
SUMMARY
$159453.05
Amount
Verdict-Plaintiff
Result type
Not present
Ruling
KEYWORDS
in the fall, lower back
FACTS
On June 28, 2011, at approximately 5:30 p.m., plaintiff Neusa Pollard, 66, a retiree, was exiting the showroom of a Volvo dealership on Marina Boulevard in San Leandro when she slipped and fell on a tile parking space that was made wet from rain. (The dealership had several tile parking spaces in front of the building to show new cars, one of those parking spaces was in front of a set of doors being used as an entrance/exit for customers.) Pollard claimed she injured her lower back in the fall. Pollard sued H.W. McKevitt Co. Inc., the owner of the Volvo dealership. Pollard alleged that H.W. McKevitt failed to warn that the tile parking spaces could potentially be slippery, creating a dangerous condition. Pollard claimed that the tile parking spaces used to show off new cars were extremely slippery when wet and that the dealership took no precautions to safeguard their patrons. Specifically, she claimed that even though it was raining, the dealership chose to have patrons use the doors near one of the tile parking spaces, rather than have patrons use other doors that had cement walkways. Defense counsel contended that the subject parking space was not a dangerous condition and that there was no need for H.W. McKevitt to warn patrons walking outdoors of a risk caused by rain. In addition, counsel contended that Pollard and her husband had no difficulty walking on the same tile, which was wet when they entered the building, and that there was no history of injury caused by the tile in approximately eight years., Pollard was taken by ambulance to an emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a T12 vertebral compression fracture. As a result, she required an overnight hospitalization, diagnostic tests, physical therapy, and consultations. Her medical treatment lasted for approximately one year. Pollard claimed that she exercised, walked her dog, hiked, gardened, traveled, and zip-lined on a regular basis prior to the accident. The plaintiff’s personal trainer also testified as to Pollard’s physical fitness prior to the injury. However, Pollard claimed that after the accident, she continues to suffer from residual lower back pain and that recent X-rays showed the collapse of her vertebral body as a sequela of the compression fracture. As a result, Pollard claimed that she may need some additional physical therapy. Thus, Pollard sought recovery of $29,453.05 in past medical costs (which was stipulated to). She also sought recover of $120,000 in damages for her past pain and suffering and $200,000 in damages for her future pain and suffering. Defense counsel argued that the fracture was minor and that Pollard had since recovered from her injury.
COURT
Superior Court of Alameda County, Oakland, CA
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INJURIES:
- anxiety
- brain
- brain damage
- brain injury
- cognition
- depression
- epidural
- extradural hematoma
- face
- facial bone
- fracture
- head
- headaches
- hearing
- impairment
- insomnia
- loss of
- mental
- nose
- psychological
- scapula
- sensory
- shoulder
- skull
- speech
- subdural hematoma
- tinnitus
- traumatic brain injury
- vision
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