St. Louis Injury Lawyer Blog

Last Saturday, five-year-old Ava Karpowecz was on her way to gymnastics when she slipped on a patch of ice in her driveway. Hearing her child's cries, her mother came over and discovered Ava had hit her head on the pavement. Beyond being shaken, their child seemed to be fine, though they opted not to go on to gymnastics class. However, as the night went on the Karpoweczes grew nervous after Ava would complain about pain and began vomitting. They consulted doctors who told the parents to give her Tylenol and wake her intermittently and check for confusion.

Sunday afternoon, Ava woke from a nap screaming in pain. Her mother rushed her to St. Anthony's Medical Center. Upon arrival, doctors noticed the child vomiting and originally diagnosed her as having the flu. However, because of her fall the previous day, they ordered a CT scan to be certain. The results of the scan sent the medical team into swift action. The fall had caused an epidural hematoma- a blood clot between the skull and the membrane covering the brain. Injuries such as these can take hours to manifest themselves through symptoms, however, once the injury occurs, it becomes a race against the clock. Ava was immediately airlifted to Cardinal Glennon for emergency surgery.

Continue reading "Slip-and-Fall Causes Serious Brain Injury in Eureka Missouri Child" »

A personal injury case brought against Dr. Michael Jones, Dr. John Kleinhoffer and Frey Properties was filed at the Madison County Circuit Court on Dec. 14. Geraldine Augustine claims she slipped and fell on ice outside her doctors' office on December 17, 2007, in Highland Illinois. The office of Jones and Kleinhoffer was leased from Frey Properties.

The suit states that the doctors' office did not provide a safe entry into their establishment during icy conditions which resulted in the plaintiffs injuries. Augustine suffered from a torn rotator cuff in her left arm. She also incurred medical, hospital, physical therapy, and pharmacy costs. Augustine is seeking a judgement of $225,000 plus costs in this case.

Something as simple as a freshly mopped floor or an unmaintained walkway can result in patients possibly getting seriously injured. Thousands of people are hurt in slip and fall accidents every year. Property owners have a legal obligation to keep their premises safe and should be held accountable if they fail to do so.

If you or a loved one have been injured in a slip and fall accident please contact the attorneys at WWF&G, located at 603 Henry St. in Alton Illinois. (618) 462-1077. All attorneys are licensed in both Missouri and Illinois.

Clinton County, Illinois - A case against Hansen Foods Inc. (a franchisee of Hardee's), brought by an injured customer has been set for trial on March 8, 2010. The man, an 85 year old veteran of WWII and the Korean War, was walking into Hardee's at 1:00 p.m. with a friend in 2007. At that time, an employee had mopped the floors but failed to use a dry mop as required by Hardee's written guidelines.

The man slipped and fell on the wet floor, causing him to fall and fracture his femur, which resulted in a hip surgery, and additional related surgeries and treatment. There is a dispute as to whether or not wet floor signs were set out, and whether or not they were placed properly. There is no dispute that the floor was wet and caused the fall of the customer.

Business owners have a duty to maintain their property in a safe condition and be free of negligence. If businesses are going to choose to mop during business hours, they need to warn customers of the same, and dry the area as quickly as possible. Here, the customer alleges Hansen Foods could have easily dried the area with a dry mop, but instead chose to let it dry on its own and left the area unattended. Moreover, depositions of the parties revealed that the employee was using soap, which is against Hardee's mopping guidelines in effect at the time of the incident for day mopping.

The trial is expected to last 2-3 days, and will include expert testimony, physicians and testimony from all parties.

Continue reading "Slip And Fall Lawsuit Involving Hardee's In Breese, Illinois Set For Trial" »

A local woman brought suit against Kerasotes Showplace Theater in Edwardsville, Illinois over a defective step. Interestingly, the entire trip and fall is on video. The movie goer walked down some steps in the middle of the movie to use the restroom. Between the upper and lower seats is a walkway. However, the walkway had about a 4 inch raise - for no apparent reason. It appears to be a design flaw. The woman fell straight to the ground when her foot struck the step, resulting in a signficant knee injury and surgery.

The defect is believed to be in every theater at the Edwardsville theater. Depositions have revealed that perhaps 10 or more people fell on the same or similar defect as Plaintiff. The "incident reports" produced in the lawsuit by Kerasotes indicate injuries have occurred to numerous victims and Kerasotes has yet to remedy the situation.

In trip and fall type cases, a Plaintiff must prove that the owner had knowledge of a dangerous condition. It is often difficult to prove a Defendant knew or should have known of a dangerous condition - they regularly deny knowledge of a defect. Here, Kerasotas acknowledges the situation via numerous reports, but has failed to make the condition safer for customers.

Continue reading "Edwardsville, Illinois Theater Sued Over Defective Step" »

An Alton, Illinois woman resolved her claim against Ponderosa. The elderly woman was with her daughter when she left the Ponderosa on Homer Adams Parkway in Alton. The sidewalk around the building came to an abrupt dropoff without warning. There was no handrail, lighting, or other warning to protect the woman or other customers against this defect.

The elderly woman tried to break her fall with her outstretched hand, causing a fracture to her shoulder. She had surgery to repair the injury, but was left with permanent injury of the shoulder, including loss of range of motion, loss of strength, and pain and suffering.

Often times, businesses fail to fix defects until an accident happens, and even then, they many times fail to protect their customers against known dangerous conditions. In this case, the parking lot and walkways appeared to be in disrepair when the accident happened. The Ponderosa restaurant subsequently closed unrelated to the accident.

Continue reading "Alton, Illinois Trip and Fall Claim Against Ponderosa Resolved" »