Premises Liability – 650,000

Our client, a delightful 56-year-old man, slipped on a foreign substance at a well-known commercial establishment and was injured. After the client received a substantial amount of conservative treatment, his doctor referred him to a surgeon. The surgeon believed the client would need surgery to both his right left hips.

A demand letter was sent to the defendant’s insurance company. In response, the insurance company offered less than $10,000.00 to settle our client’s case. They claimed that the business was not responsible for causing our client’s fall, and they thought the case had only nuisance value. The insurance company’s offer was substantially less than the total medical bills our client incurred for treatment of the injuries he sustained because of the company’s negligence. This low ball and insulting offer was immediately rejected and a lawsuit was filed. Shortly and quickly thereafter multiple employee depositions were taken that proved the employees discovered the foreign substance before our client’s fall and yet did nothing to correct it or warn our client of the dangerous condition prior to the fall.

Our client ultimately had the recommended surgery and thankfully recovered well. The insurance company offered less than six figures to resolve the case after the surgery. This offer was summarily rejected. Our firm then noticed the case for trial, and a mediation settlement conference was held. The insurance carrier initially offered $100,000.00, and then $200,000.00 and $300,000.00 at the mediation. All those offers were rejected, and our attorneys told the mediator that we would walk out of the mediation and proceed to trial unless they negotiated in good faith above half a million dollars. After a very long pause in the settlement negotiations, the insurance company realized that our client was serious about proceeding to trial, and the case finally settled for $650,000.00. Our client was extremely happy with the result as well as our representation.