Who among us hasn't at one time or another stood in awe of a perfect pyramid of fresh golden apples or glowing tangerines while strolling down a supermarket aisle? My personal favorites are the bright purple eggplants that show up in late summer.
Usually the floors of the produce section are relatively clean but allegedly that wasn't the case for Halina Dymora, who is suing Jewel Food Stores Inc. in a slip and fall legal action, Chicago Now's Chicago Bar-Tender reports.
It wasn't a banana peel or a puddle of tomato juice she allegedly fell on, but a piece of wood. She didn't see it because she allegedly was transfixed by the store's lovely fruits and vegetables:
Plaintiff was unaware of the presence of the piece of wood as her attention was directed at the vegetables in front of her.
Ms. Dymora is claiming damages in excess of $30,000 for injuries "of a personal and pecuniary nature" but provided no details as to the extent of those injuries. She claims in her suit, written by Chicago accident attorney Michael McCready, that she exercised "ordinary care for her safety" and did not contribute to the alleged negligence in any way.
It would be interesting to know exactly what she was looking at, but the point is that grocery stores (as with any place of business) have a duty to maintain hazard-free premises for their customers.
Liability involving hazards on a commercial property must be based on at least one of the following three thresholds, according to FindLaw:
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Business owner must have caused the hazard
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Business owner must have known about a hazard but failed to fix the problem
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Business owner should have known about a hazard because a so-called "reasonable" person would have taken care of it
A copy of Ms. Dymora's brief complaint follows the article, linked above.
Related Resources:
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Jury Awards $3.2M to Woman Injured at Ikea Store (FindLaw Injured Blog)
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Directory of Chicago Injury Lawyers (FindLaw)
