Personal Injury

Must a retailer receive notice about a dangerous condition before it can be held liable in a slip and fall case?

In an appeal of a recent lawsuit against the retailer Costco, the plaintiff will get a new trial because the jury was not correctly instructed on the question of notice.

Retailers generally have an obligation to maintain their premises properly and may be held liable for injuries caused by unsafe conditions. In some cases, they must receive notice of a hazard before they can be held liable for failure to eliminate it. But in others no notice is needed. When a business's general "mode of operation" causes a hazard, however, a plaintiff may not be required to prove that the business was notified of the hazard.

A couple months ago, a gynecologist from Tenafly, New Jersey who practiced in New York City pled guilty to sexually assaulting two women he had examined. Dr. Robert Hadden admitted that he had “engaged in an act of oral sexual conduct against a patient for no valid medical purpose” and “intentionally and for no legitimate purpose forcibly touched the sexual and intimate parts of [another patient].” Hadden’s medical license has been revoked, and he must register as a sex offender, but it is still unclear whether the at least twenty women who have come forward as victims will be able to sue him in civil court for monetary damages. 

This is distressing, but it is something we see every day.

In recent years the number of bankruptcy petitions filed in the United States has reached historic levels. On primary reason for the increase in the number of debtors turning to bankruptcy is the national recession the country has been experiencing. As is often the case during an economic downturn, the real estate market has also suffered. In many markets, property values plummeted virtually overnight. The result for many debtors is that they now owe considerably more for their house than the property  is worth in the current market. The one shining star in all of this is that if you find yourself in this situation and you have a second mortgage on the property you could be able to eliminate the second mortgage through bankruptcy.