$175,000 Settlement For Injuries Sustained From Slip And Fall On Ice

Plaintiff was forty-eight (48) years of age at the time of this accident and a tenant of a condominium complex. On a winter day, Plaintiff slipped and fell on ice created from a downspout which caused melting snow/water runoff from the roofs to accumulate on a concrete paver pedestrian sidewalk at the building garage entrance. This was the only walkway for pedestrians to traverse from a unit to the parking lot.  Plaintiff was wearing brown hiking boots at the time of the fall. The Defendant condominium had knowledge of this condition. Approximately three years prior to Plaintiff’s accident, Defendant entered into a contract with a landscaping company to bury the downspouts to route them to underground drains to eliminate the water roof. According to testimony from the Defendant’s maintenance supervisor this was done for safety issues. There were complaints by unit owners of ice at the downspouts. It was a work in progress.  However, there were no caution signs, cones or other warnings to alert pedestrians of the dangerous condition it certainly was aware of, well before Plaintiff’s accident. Immediately following the accident, Plaintiff felt intense pain in the left thigh and leg and transported to Morristown Medical Center.  Upon examination, the emergency room physician noted that Plaintiff had pain with any range of motion of the left knee, along with bruising on his left thigh. He also noted a suprapatellar tendon defect. Plaintiff underwent x-rays of his left femur and left knee. The x-rays did not reveal any fracture.  As a result of this accident, Plaintiff sustained the following injuries: A traumatic left quadriceps tendon rupture and repair of the left quadriceps; the incision midline over the left knee to the tibial tubercle to the superior pole of the patella measured approximately 20 cm in length; a resulting scar on Plaintiff’s left leg due to this surgery; and an acute medial meniscus  in the left knee tear with no signs degeneration requiring arthroscopy with manipulation under anesthesia, lysis of adhesions and repair resection of the meniscus tear. The case settled for a total amount of $ 175,000.00.