PREMISES LIABILITY. Hazardous Premises. $______ RECOVERY. Premises liability - Hazardous premises - Minor plaintiff injured when foot gets caught between ground tiles on defendant playground - Spiral fracture of right distal tibia shaft.

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access to and use of the elevator car by its employ-

ees and/or servants, failing to adequately train and/or

supervise its employees and maintenance workers

with regard to appropriate safety measures including

lock-out/tag-out procedures, failing to establish a pol-

icy, protocol, or procedure regarding lock out/tag-out

with regard to operation of the pre-heater elevator

during repair, failing to turn off power to the elevator

to block motion and/or prevent use by its employees

and/or servants and failing to take appropriate safety

measures to ensure that the decedent could safely

perform repair work on the subject elevator without

the risk of serious injury. The decedent is survived by 4

adult children.

The parties settled their dispute for $20,000,000.

REFERENCE

Sonia Antoine, Individually and as Personal Represen-

tative on Behalf of the Estate of Lennox Wishart

Hinckson vs. Holcim (U.S.), Inc., Claudio Butkus,

Sheetalnath Mahalungkar, Richard Simmons and Da-

vid Legette. Case no. 2020-CP-38-00265; Judge Ed-

gar W. Dickson.

Attorney for plaintiff: David B. Yarborough, Jr. of

Yarborough Applegate, LLC in Charleston, SC.

Attorney for defendant: Jonathan M. Knicely of

Nelson Mullins in Columbia, SC.

$80,000 RECOVERY

Premises liability – Hazardous premises – Minor

plaintiff injured when foot gets caught between

ground tiles on defendant playground – Spiral

fracture of right distal tibia shaft.

Queens County, NY

In this premises liability action, the minor plaintiff

was injured when his foot became caught in a

hole between 2 ground tiles on the defendant

playground. The defendants generally denied all

allegations of negligence.

On July 17, 2015, the minor plaintiff was playing on a

playground on the defendant’s premises, located at

109-11 46th Avenue in Corona, New York. At the time

of the incident, the minor plaintiff was playing on a

merry-go-round apparatus known in this case as a

“playground spinner”. At this time, the playground

spinner was surrounded by rubber tiles of safety mat-

ting. While the minor plaintiff was attempting to get

off of the playground spinner, his foot became

caught in a hole that existed between 2 of the safety

tiles. The minor plaintiff was caused to be injured.

The plaintiffs maintained that the defendants were

negligent in failing to maintain safe and adequate

conditions on the premises, failing to properly install

rubber tiles and safety matting, failing to repair or re-

place broken safety tiles, failing to inspect the pre-

mises, failing to ensure that the premises was safe for

children at play, failing to repair a hole between

ground tiles, in negligently allowing a hazard to exist

and remain on the premises, and failing to warn of

hazardous conditions on the premises. Consequently,

the minor plaintiff sustained injuries, including a spiral

fracture of the right distal tibia shaft.

The parties entered into a settlement for $80,000.

REFERENCE

J.C., An Infant By Is Mother And Natural Guardian

Jessica Romero vs. City Of New York. Index no.

722059/2020, 02-04-22.

Attorney for plaintiff: Mark Linder of Harmon, Linder

& Rogowsky in New York, NY.

Negligent Maintenance

DEFENDANT’S VERDICT

Premises liability – Negligent maintenance – Fall

down – Alleged failure to maintain vending

machine – Slip and fall in water – Liability only.

Pasco County, FL

This action was bifurcated and tried on the issue

of liability only, after the plaintiff fell near a

vending machine owned by the defendant. The

plaintiff claimed that the defendant failed to

maintain the machine, causing it to leak water

which caused her fall. The defendant denied

negligence.

According to plaintiff, she entered the break room at

her place of employment in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

The plaintiff testified that she approached a soda

vending machine, owned by the defendant, with the

intention of purchasing a beverage.

However, the plaintiff claimed that there was a pud-

dle of water in front of the machine that appeared to

be leaking from the bottom right corner. The plaintiff

alleged she did not see the water when she walked

to get her drink or while she was standing at the ma-

chine purchasing her drink. She claimed that, as she

was walking to leave the break room, she stepped

into the puddle, resulting in her slipping and falling to

the floor.

18 VERDICTS BY CATEGORY

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