David Baugher//September 24, 2024//
A slip-and-fall and a dispute over the slickness of a grocery store parking area has resulted in a defense verdict.
“Our position was that the parking lot was simply damp from the moisture in the air — the mist — but there was no ice,” said Jeff Kennard of Scharnhorst Ast Kennard Griffin. “Ultimately, that’s what the jury concluded.”
Kennard’s firm represented defendant Hy-Vee, Inc. in the matter that concerned an incident in late February of 2022 in which Maria Morrison was traversing the lot after visiting the store. According to the lawsuit filed in the matter, the plaintiff suffered head injuries including a concussion. She also sustained damage to her tailbone, lower back and left shoulder.
The suit alleged that management was negligent in failing to remove ice from the asphalt or put out salt.
Kennard acknowledged that his client did not treat the lot but contended that there was no reason to do so since no ice was present. He argued that other customers did not notice or slip on the lot and even the plaintiff herself did not see any ice on the way into the store approximately 15 minutes earlier.
Kennard said Morrison argued that ice must have formed while she was in the store due to falling temperatures on the dank and dreary morning taking place after unusually warm conditions the day before.
Kennard also said that the plaintiff had no issues with ice driving home or to the hospital.
He acknowledged that air temperatures did dip below freezing.
“There was no real time weather data tracked,” he said, “but based on the reconstruction of data from what’s available on the internet, the jury saw that the reported ambient temperature at roughly that time was around 24 degrees.”
He said the plaintiff argued that the pavement should have been pretreated based on the forecast, but he countered that ground temperatures were still well above freezing due to the previous day’s warmth which would prevent ice formation.
Kennard said there were no witnesses to the incident and surveillance video proved useless since moisture obscured the camera lens.
He said there was also a dispute in the matter over the extent of injury although the trial was not a lengthy one.
“We tried the case in a day and a half, so it was fast,” Kennard said.
Damian Bakula of Bakula Law was listed as representing the plaintiff. He declined comment on the matter.
This article credit to MOLawyersMedia