Client Trips Over Root In Parking Strip–Supermarket Pays Over $60,000

We represented a very nice woman who tripped and fell while she was walking through a planting strip. (Planting strips are often used a dividers between rows in a parking lot and double as wheel stops.)

All trip and fall cases are tough. But this one was especially challenging because she was walking somewhere she wasn’t supposed to walk. That was the centerpiece of the supermarket’s defense.

We argued that even though the parking strip wasn’t designed as a walkway (or even a pass-through between sections of the parking lot) that’s how it was used. And the supermarket knew it was used that way by its customers because of wear patterns.

The supermarket never agreed with our position–but it recognized the risk that a jury would. As a result it paid over $60,000 to settle the case.