In June, an executive who was seriously injured in a slip-and-fall accident in Atlanta was awarded $3.6 million for her injuries by a Fulton County jury. The award was $900,000 more than the plaintiff’s lawyers had asked for at trial.
Christine Garland—then an executive for Auto Trader—was attending a sales conference at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia Hotel in Dunwoody in early January 2007 when she was injured. Because a lobby area where conference attendees were arriving was too hot, staff of the hotel decided to open multiple outside doors, even though it was raining. Garland was stationed at one of many tables positioned throughout the lobby to serve the 200 conference attendees. As the wind outside picked up, items were blown off the tables in the lobby and Garland asked hotel staff to close the doors. According to Garland, a hotel staff member refused as immediately turned away. After seeing a co-worker attempting to shut a door, Garland attempted to help him and slipped as she stepped off a carpeted area and onto the lobby’s marble floor.
Garland hit the ground with great force, injuring her right wrist and shoulder. Garland was later diagnosed with a torn tendon in her wrist and thumb and had to undergo orthopedic surgery. She later required separate surgeries for a torn pectoral muscle and for nerve damage in her shoulder and elbow. Because of her injuries and inability to use her right arm, Garland eventually had to give up her job and could no longer participate in physical activities she had previously enjoyed. At the time of trial, Garland had undergone six surgeries so far and possibly needed more in the future.
At trial, the insurance company’s defense team argued that Garland had been contributorily negligent—that is, that her own negligence was a factor in the fall—and that she had assumed the risk of her injury by choosing to walk on the wet marble floor in high heels. They claimed that hotel employees had posted warning signs about the wet floor and placed mats near the doors to prevent slips. Garland and plaintiff’s witnesses disputed those claims.
The jury’s award to Garland was significantly more than she had requested. Garland asked for three years at an $80,000 salary, $2.3 million for past and future pain and suffering, and over $225,000 in past and future medical expenses. The jury instead gave her four years worth of lost salary and $3.1 million for pain and suffering.
Though slips and falls often cause very minor injuries—or even none at all—they have the potential to cause catastrophic damage. Property owners and managers who hold their premises open to the public have a duty to make sure that dangerous conditions are corrected and that visitors are adequately warned of dangers that may not be obvious. When people suffer serious injuries caused by others’ negligently maintained premises or failure to warn, it is their responsibility to compensate anyone whose injuries they caused. If you or a loved one have been injured due to another person’s negligence, an experienced personal injury attorney can help ensure that you do not have to shoulder the burden of medical bills and other expenses on your own.
