Past Premises Liability Cases

CaseyGerry has been successfully representing injured people for the better part of a century. Below are a few of the premises liability cases we have litigated and information about the negligence that led to our clients’ injuries.

Unsafe Gardening Establishment
While visiting a garden center in San Diego, CaseyGerry’s client fell because of hazardous conditions. The woman’s fall caused a sprained ankle that soon caused her to develop Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

A Dangerous Vehicle Tour
A man was drinking alcohol while giving a friend a tour of his mountainous property in a motor vehicle. He attempted a three-point turn at the top of a mountain. Instead of moving forward, the vehicle tilted and plummeted off the edge of the road, rolling more than 100 feet down the steep hillside ravine. CaseyGerry’s clients, a couple and their daughter, were ejected from the vehicle and sustained catastrophic injuries.

Auger Hazard at a Feed Facility
A truck driver’s leg became entangled in a grain auger at a feed facility. His foot came in contact with the eight-inch metal blades of the auger, which pulled him in. His femur was crushed, and the muscles around it were torn. Unable to be removed from the auger, CaseyGerry’s client had to be sedated at the facility so his leg could be amputated there.

Hazardous Supermarket Parking Lot
The owners of a seafood supermarket left the parking lot outside in unsafe conditions. CaseyGerry’s client fell and sustained catastrophic injuries as a result.

Negligent Party Host
Hosts of a holiday party hired a 15-year-old boy to shuttle party guests up and down a brutally steep, long and winding driveway in a golf cart. The boy crashed the golf cart. CaseyGerry’s client was thrown from the cart moments before it landed on her. Her leg was crushed, and she suffered other traumatic injuries.

Hazardous Store Shelf
The owners of a convenience store failed to secure a heavy and dangerous shelf. While in the store with her parent, a child reached for an item on the shelf when the structure fell on her. She suffered craniofacial injuries and a traumatic brain injury.

Unsecured Beam in a Crawl Space
A cable carrier employee was installing telephone cable when he stepped onto an unsecured board laying across the beams. As he stepped onto the board, it shifted and he was forced to turn quickly and grab another bean to prevent himself from falling. As a result of the move, the man sustained injuries to his neck and upper shoulder.

Poor Placement of Advertising Sign
A woman was walking past a bank inside a grocery store. She stepped to avoid people when her left food caught the base of an advertising sign. She fell forward and into a metal desk chair at the bank counter. Her foot remained at the base of the sign. CaseyGerry’s client sustained injuries to her arm, forehead, knee and neck. She was also diagnosed with a head injury and a concussion.

Fall in Dark Stairwell
CaseyGerry’s client was descending the dark stairwell of an apartment complex when her foot suddenly twisted and snapped. She fell forward and landed on her hands and knees. Her ankle fractured in three places. Her continued pain, lack of range of motion, and weakness led to a diagnosis of CRPS.

Hazardous Stairs Near Sports Center Pool
A woman with ALS was visiting a pool with her husband and caretaker. A ramp at the entrance to the pool area appeared to be smooth but was actually stairs with no handrails. CaseyGerry’s client turned her wheelchair to face the pool and drove over the steps without seeing them first. She fell and suffered injuries including a neck fracture, internal bleeding, a sprained ankle, pain and scarring, and loss of motion and independence.

Poorly Maintained Pool Deck
CaseyGerry’s client was walking at a pool complex while carrying a 12-month-old baby. The woman stepped onto an area where large patches of the pool deck’s non-slip surface had worn away. Her foot suddenly slipped on the surface and sent her crashing to the cement with the baby in her arms. The ankle sprain that resulted rapidly developed into CRPS within three months of the incident.

Broken Cable Vault Lid on Public Walkway
CaseyGerry’s client was walking on the sidewalk and fell as a result of a broken cable vault lid. A communications company and the City of San Diego had failed to repair the issue, leaving an unsafe walkway for pedestrians. The woman’s fall caused her to develop Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

Unsafe Trench at Construction Site
During a construction project at a San Diego college, safety plates were placed over a trench parallel to a soon-to-be constructed sidewalk. The driver of a cement truck was instructed to back the truck onto the plates. The plates slipped into the trench, causing the truck to turn on its side. Standing beside the truck, the driver tried to run, but he tripped and fell over the cement forms at the sidewalk. The truck fell on him, causing severe leg and pelvic injuries.

Technician’s Careless Act During Equipment Assembly
While assembling equipment with a coworker, a machinist was severely injured when a technical representative caused a valve rod weighing over 1,000 pounds to fall on the man’s right hand.

Negligent Gym’s Failure to Supervise Girl
At a youth sports gym, a girl reached the top of the rock wall without a harness or rope. She was too scared to come down and did not receive any assistance from gym employees. The girl launched off the rock wall and reached for the nearby fireman’s pole, but she was unable to grab onto it. She fell nine feet onto the mat, severely fracturing her right ankle.

Negligently Placed Clothing Rack
At a department store, a woman tripped and fell over an empty clothing rack negligently left out and positioned to block the path to the dressing rooms. The woman sustained bruising and abrasions on her knee and developed lower back, pelvic, and sacroiliac joint pain.

Wet and Soapy Restroom Floor
An employee at an airport luxury lounge negligently mopped the restroom floor, leaving an extreme amount of soapy water near the entrance without any warnings. A woman walked into the restroom, slipped on the floor, and smashed her face into the hard tile floor. She sustained serious injuries as a result of the fall.

Maintenance Worker Negligence
A man was killed at a construction plant when an unsecured feeder box pivoted down, pinning him between the box and the splash curtain support bracket on the screen. His head was crushed. Days before the incident, maintenance workers had torched off four of the six nuts and bolts used to secure the 800- to 1,000-pound feeder box without giving any warning.

Grocery Store Negligence
A display at a grocery store was stocked with beer cans and bottles in paperboard containers. The beer was covering the air return grills in the HVAC system, disrupting the cold air curtain and causing condensation to build on the shelf. When CaseyGerry’s client reached for an item, the wet paperboard failed and allowed bottles to fall. The bottles crushed the man’s foot. His injury resulted in deep peroneal neuritis and entrapment of several nerves, leading him to suffer from CRPS.

Soapy Restroom Floor
A movie theater employee, while attempting to clean the women’s restroom, refilled a soap dispenser. The dispenser broke and caused copious amounts of clear liquid soap to spill onto the restroom tile floor. The employee then left the restroom and providing no warning to patrons of the dangerous condition. CaseyGerry’s client slipped and fell in the restroom and suffered a dislocated knee, torn ligaments, fractures, and other injuries.

Dangerous Restroom Door
At a public pool, a 12-year-old girl was entering the bathroom as the door slammed shut with such speed and force that a portion of the tip of her index finger was cut off. A security guard admitted that he knew the door was in a dangerous condition and had informed his superiors prior to the incident.

No Warning of a Broken Pathway
CaseyGerry’s client was walking with crutches down a clearly marked path outside of condominiums when suddenly the pathway ceased. He fell and as he twisted, his right knee went out and he landed on his right hip.

Dangerous Crack Beside Sidewalk
A daughter was pushing her mother in a wheelchair outside of a department store when the chair unexpectedly stopped short by a raised crack between the sidewalk and the blacktop. The woman was thrown from the wheelchair and fell on her face and knees on the ground. She sustained severe injuries to her nose, head, and knees.

Hazardous School Walkway
On a high school campus, a student was walking on a walkway when his right foot struck a protruding curb, causing him to fall. He protected his head by thrusting out his left arm. The fall fractured his left forearm and sprained his left wrist.

Grease Trap on Hotel Floor
CaseyGerry’s client was a guest at a hotel, on her way back to her room late at night. She slipped and fell in the hallway due to grease in the hallway, which came from a clogged drain in a restaurant a floor above.

Water on Store Floor
A deli island at a grocery store was leaking water, which was a known and ongoing problem. Employees had improperly set up cones to warn about the mess. CaseyGerry’s client walked past the cones and fell. She sustained two sprained wrists, one of which was also fractured.

Trip Hazard in a Public Space
A woman tripped over the raised edge of a concrete panel along a crosswalk in University Heights. The trip hazard, which had caused many others to trip and fall before and after the woman, is located along the joint between two concrete panels, making it impossible for pedestrians to see. The City of San Diego had actual notice of the hazard and had not taken action to mitigate it.

Long-Standing Crooked Hotel Walkway
On a hotel property, a tree had lifted the walkway up about an inch and a half from the curb, creating a horizontal gap separating the two. This long-standing hazard caused a woman to trip and fall face-first onto the pavement. She sustained a neuroma in her foot, which caused debilitating and excruciating pain.

“Trashed” Soccer Field
While playing on an unsafe soccer field, a girl stepped into a hole while running. She tore her ACL and meniscus as a result. Despite explicit warnings by the referee and his own personal observations the coach had previously determined he would allow the game to go forward on the “trashed field.”

Dangerous Stairs
An uneven rise and run of a staircase caused a woman to misstep at an entertainment venue. She fell forward and fractured her right arm.

Dangerous Floor Renovation Area with No Warning
A woman was leaving work when she entered an area where some of the floor had been removed by workmen. The area was improperly illuminated and the floor was uneven by over an inch with an intersecting walkway. She tripped and fell, causing her to hit the glass office window in front of her. She then fell to her knees on the concrete, severely injuring her foot.

While each of these cases differs, one fact remains the same. Dangerous property conditions led to unexpected and catastrophic injuries. CaseyGerry’s clients prevailed in these lawsuits, obtaining justice and compensation for their losses.