FALL DOWN – WET FLOOR IN RESTROOM AT MALL – FAILURE TO POST SIGNS - - HERNIATED LUMBAR DISC  

SETTLEMENT: [Plaintiffs] v. Queens Center Mall Associates, L.P., d/b/a Queens Center Mall 13103/95 Date of Settlement 12/2/99 Queens Supreme

Pltf. Atty:  Todd D. Greenberg of Addabbo & Greenberg, Forest Hills

Deft. Atty:  Charlene I. Lund of The Law Offices of Patrick L. MacDonell, Garden City  

     This action settled prior to jury selection for $237,500.  Pltf., age 38 at the time, claimed that on 3/10/95 at approximately 8 PM, she was injured in the restroom at the Deft. Mall, located on Queens Blvd. in Elmhurst.  Pltf. claimed that she observed someone mopping under the stall making the floor wet, and when she stood up to flush the toilet with her foot, she slipped and fell on the wet floor in the bathroom.  Pltf. claimed that Deft. Was negligent in permitting the floor to become dangerously slippery by mopping it while customers were using the facilities.  Pltf. further contended that Deft. failed to post signs warning that the floor was being cleaned.  

     Deft. would have argued that Pltf. observed the cleaning woman cleaning other stalls prior to using the stall in question, and that she contributed to the accident by using one foot to flush the toilet, which caused her to lose her balance.  Deft. would also have denied that the floor was wet.  

     Injuries:  herniated lumbar disc at L4-5, requiring a laminectomy and  L4-5 discectomy. Carrier: United States Fire Ins. Co.  

Pltf. Experts: Pltf. would have called Dr. Robert Donadt, orth. surg., Forest Hills;

    Richard Berkenfeld, P.E., engineer, Great Neck.

Deft. Experts:  Deft. would have called Dr. Raymond Koval, orth. surg., Elmhurst; Ronald Anderson, engineer, Inter-City Testing and Consulting, Mineola.