Woman Settles Slip And Fall For $1.75 Million After Dollar Tree Accident

A New Jersey Dollar Tree recently settled a slip and fall lawsuit for $1.75 million. According to the lawsuit, the woman slipped and fell on an egg that had fallen and cracked on the floor. The 69-year-old plaintiff settled the case before it went to trial.

Court papers say that the plaintiff went with her daughter to the Dollar Tree on January 4, 2020. While in the refrigerated section of the store, the plaintiff opened a refrigerator door to grab some bologna. As she opened the door, she slipped and fell on a broken egg which was situated on the floor. She fell on her back and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

According to the plaintiff, she did not see the egg on the floor before she fell. Dollar Tree denied any negligence for the incident in settling the case.

Injuries 

As a result of the accident, the plaintiff’s physician testified during discovery that the plaintiff required surgery to remove a damaged disc from her spine at the back of her neck. However, according to Dollar Tree’s expert witness, the plaintiff’s cervical injuries were caused by disc degeneration and not the injuries sustained in the accident. The doctor did admit, however, that the plaintiff sustained cervical and lumbar sprains in the accident.

Analyzing the case 

To win a slip and fall case, you must be able to establish that the proprietor where you fell was negligent for the dangerous condition that led to your fall. To establish negligence, you need to prove that the proprietor was aware of the dangerous condition, one of their staffers passed by the dangerous condition without rectifying it, or that the dangerous condition was there for an extended period of time before and left not remedied. You can also establish that the proprietor or one of its agents should have known about the dangerous condition had they exercised ordinary care.

In this case, it’s unclear how long the egg was on the floor before the plaintiff slipped and fell on it. However, we do know that Dollar Tree moved to settle the lawsuit for $1.75 million based on the evidence presented during depositions and the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries.

Dollar Tree did what civil litigators do when negligence is a foregone conclusion. They decided to attack the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries by saying that they were caused by a pre-existing condition. This argument belies the fact that you can sue over the aggravation of a pre-existing condition if a store’s negligence contributed to your injuries. But taking this approach generally indicates that the proprietor was going to lose on the negligence count.

Talk to a Jacksonville, FL Slip and Fall Attorney Today 

Gillette Law represents the interests of plaintiffs in slip and fall cases filed against negligent proprietors. You can file a slip and fall case if you were seriously injured on someone else’s property. Call our Jacksonville personal injury lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin investigating your case right away.

Source:

mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/courts/2023/11/01/nj-dollar-tree-slip-and-fall-lawsuit/71392560007/