Man Hurt in a Hardware Store in Virginia is Awarded $280,000
Everybody knows cars are dangerous and thousands of people lose their lives every year on the roads. However, sometimes people are injured in the most apparently innocuous of surroundings like at a store or walking down the street. In two recent cases, awards were made to a man who was hurt in a hardware store in Virginia and a woman who fell into a water meter cover.
In a case settled earlier this year, Virginia Lawyers Weekly reported a man who was receiving disability payments from the Railroad Retirement Board slipped on a ramp at a hardware store.
The man hurt in a hardware store in Virginia suffered from degenerative spine weakness, gout and pain in his right shoulder before the slip-and-fall injury. He entered the store via a public entrance and fell on a ramp that owners of the store converted from a gravity conveyor ramp to a customer entrance. He suffered a traumatic tear of the left rotator cuff and a cut over his right eye.
The Virginia Lawyers Weekly report noted the ramp slope, surface and handrail was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The case was settled for $280,000 in May after a case was filed in the District Court for the Eastern District in Richmond. The attorney for the plaintiff was S. Keith Barker of Glen Allen.
In Northern Virginia, a lawsuit was filed against Fairfax Water Authority after a woman stepped on an unsecured water meter cover. Her foot fell through the cover, resulting in serious injuries. The woman needed surgery to re-attach metatarsal bones that separated from the tarsal bones.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly reported Fairfax Water initially denied the woman’s claim. The water company said it had a lack of notice and the loose cover was caused by a third party accessing the water meter. An expert hired by the woman’s attorneys said the problem was caused by a unique locking bolt used by the water company to secure the covers. A special tool was required to unlock the cover. It appeared that the cover had not been properly secured at the last meter reading.
A case was filed in Fairfax Circuit Court. It was resolved at mediation for $205,000. The injured woman was represented by lawyers Edward L. Weiner and Lawson D. Spivey III of Fairfax
Both of these cases are examples of the law of premises liability. If you are hurt when you are at a business or another building where you are invited to be at, the owner, operator or manager owes a duty to provide a safe environment.
At Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers, we have a team devoted to helping clients who are injured at a business or another premises in Virginia. It may be a shopping center, a hotel, a restaurant or an office building.
In a recent case, Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers won $600,000 for an elderly woman who suffered a brain injury when she fell on a ramp that failed to meet Virginia building codes. If you have been hurt at premises, please call us today at (757) 455-0077.
