Altizer Law

A most unusual case.

Roughly ten years ago a most unusual slip-and-fall case resulted in a jury verdict of $12.2 million.  A 47-year-old woman stopped at a convenience store to buy a newspaper. While she was walking toward her car she slipped on a wet spot on the sidewalk that surrounded the store. The sidewalk was approximately 8 inches higher than the pavement. When she fell, she landed on her chest and chin. An eyewitness to the fall said that her head snapped backwards almost as if she had been hit by a boxer.

Plaintiff did not recall losing consciousness. Therefore, when she visited the emergency room, her chin was stitched, and she was released. The hospital’s medical record, therefore, included nothing about either the intensity of her head “snapping” backward or that she had lost consciousness. [Read more…]