Jury Sees Through It All: Complete Defense Verdict in Premises Liability Trial
Rissman attorneys Richard Mangan, Meredith Stephens, Kendall Calwhite and Hillary Hazeltine obtained a defense verdict on behalf of their client in Orange County following an 8-day jury trial.
The plaintiff alleged she slipped on a foreign substance in a store aisle and pointed to CCTV footage she claimed showed employees inspecting the scene and picking up debris near the area of the fall. She underwent three spinal surgeries, presented over $580,000 in past medical expenses, and submitted a future life care plan totaling $1,800,000. In closing arguments, the plaintiff asked the jury to award $14,000,000.
The defense challenged both liability and causation, arguing the store had no actual or constructive notice of any hazardous condition and that the video actually showed the plaintiff’s ankle rolling from a misstep rather than a slip. On causation, the defense demonstrated long standing degenerative changes in imaging studies that predated the incident. While the plaintiff countered that she had not sought treatment for seven years before the fall. After six hours of deliberation, including 30 minutes reviewing the videotape, the jury returned a complete defense verdict.
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