Slip and Fall Injury Claim Survives Motion for Summary Disposition

A Plaintiff visiting a fast-food restaurant placed his order for food and then went to use the restroom. As he stepped into the restroom, he slipped and fell on the floor. The Plaintiff’s friend also slipped on the floor and a responding Good Samaritan told Plaintiff that the women’s restroom floor was also very slippery. Plaintiff suffered injuries to his head, neck, spine, and a torn rotator cuff of the left shoulder.

The case was before the U.S. Federal District Court in Detroit when Defendant fast food restaurant filed a Motion for Summary Disposition. Defendant asserted that Plaintiff could not prove a breach of duty or causation (proximate cause) between the alleged defective condition and the Plaintiff’s accident. The U.S. District Court Judge denied the Motion for Summary Disposition.

The Court reasoned that the Plaintiff had sufficient circumstantial evidence that the bathroom floor was slippery. This came by way of the good Samaritan’s comments to the Plaintiff that even the women’s bathroom floor was slippery leading to the “reasonable inference that [the fast-food restaurant] created the slippery condition.” This potential testimony or evidence would make it “reasonable to infer that the slipperiness was created by a cleaning substance that [the fast-food restaurant] applied to both bathrooms during a single cleaning episode.”

As for the issue of causation (proximate cause) between the alleged defective condition and the Plaintiff’s accident, the Court felt Plaintiff had “…. presented evidence that he fell because the floor in the men’s bathroom was as slippery as an ‘ice rink’ …… [and] he has provided circumstantial evidence that [the fast-food restaurant] created the slippery condition by applying some substance to the floor.”

Click on the link to read the court ruling in Aiello v Taco Bell of America.

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