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Personal Injury
Premises Liability
Dangerous Condition

Eric Guinea v. Ralphs Grocery Company dba Food 4 Less; Valley Central L.P., and Does 1 to 50, inclusive

Published: Jul. 30, 2016 | Result Date: Jun. 16, 2016 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |

Case number: BC515488 Verdict –  Defense

Court

L.A. Superior Central


Attorneys

Plaintiff

Gregory A. Coolidge
(Carpenter Zuckerman & Rowley LLP)


Defendant

Gregory E. Stone
(Stone Dean LLP)

Angela M. Jones
(Office of General Counsel - LAUSD)


Experts

Plaintiff

Howard Goldfarb
(technical)

George Rappard M.D.
(medical)

Karen Smith
(technical)

Mark Burns
(technical)

Defendant

Richard C. Rosenberg M.D.
(medical)

Isaac N. Ikram PE
(technical)

Facts

Plaintiff Eric Guinea alleged that on May 5, 2012, he was injured when he walked into defendant Food 4 Less' men's restroom. Video surveillance showed activity outside the restroom. According to the video, the last person who had been in the restroom prior to plaintiff was a store employee. After the store employee left the restroom, the next person to enter the restroom was plaintiff, approximately two minutes later.

Plaintiff is in the restroom for about 55 seconds. He then comes out holding his knee and back and complains of injury due to a substantial amount of water on the floor. Plaintiff and his wife and the store manager took photos the restroom and noted a substantial amount of water on the floor. Plaintiff also had a substantial amount of water on his person, which was also documented.

Contentions

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff claimed that Food 4 Less violated its policy by failing to maintain the restroom. Specifically, that Food 4 Less either created a dangerous condition by having a substantial amount of water on the floor and/or by an employee failing to remedy the condition as he or she was the last person to leave the restroom before the plaintiff entered.

While on scene, plaintiff and his wife looked at the bathroom cleaning log which reflected the bathroom had been last cleaned at 7:45 p.m. Plaintiff fell at approximately 8:49 p.m. Plaintiff argued defendant destroyed the log, which was not produced in discovery.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Food 4 Less claimed it was not negligent and that it adequately maintained its premises, including the restroom. Further, that the water on the floor, although substantial as alleged by plaintiff, did not constitute an unreasonably dangerous condition.

Settlement Discussions

Plaintiff served a CCP 998 for $499,999.99 on Aug. 29, 2013. Defendant served a CCP 998 for $50,000 on Oct. 28, 2014. Before both trials, the parties entered informal settlement discussions. Plaintiff was informally in the range of $500,000 and defendant was informally in the range of $200,000.

Injuries

Plaintiff claimed to have sustained a sprain/strain of his knee and three simultaneous, significant disc protrusion/herniations resulting in nerve interference and radiculopathy. Plaintiff also claimed significant past and future loss of earnings, including lifelong vocational limitations. Prior to plaintiff's neurointerventional spine surgery, he was bed-ridden and his wife was required to physically care for him. To this effect, plaintiff also sought damages for significant emotional distress and humiliation for his inability to care for himself.

Result

The jury returned a verdict for the defense and found Food 4 Less was not negligent in the use or maintenance of his property.

Other Information

This was the second trial of this matter. The first was an 8-day jury trial in Van Nuys before Judge Elaine Mandel. After deliberating five hours, the jury announced it was deadlocked on the first question, 7-5 in favor of defense. The case was then re-tried in downtown (Central District) resulting in 10-2 defense verdict), which according to defense, has a reputation of being far more liberal that Van Nuys. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Mark Burns testified that the store fell below the standard of care in its maintenance and use. Also, that the floor, when wet, posed an unreasonably dangerous condition. Dr. George Rappard, who performed plaintiff's neurointerventional spine surgery, claimed all three, significant herniated discs were caused by the incident. Additionally, he testified that plaintiff incurred past medical specials that exceeded $300,000. Isaac Ikram opined the floor tested safe despite being below OSHA and ANCI standards. Additionally, he testified that biomechanically the three disc herniations were not caused by the incident. A 402 hearing was held regarding the expert's ability to testify on certain other biomechanical issues and the court ultimately allowed the testimony, including the opinion that the mechanism of injury was not consistent with plaintiff's description of the fall. Dr. Richard Rosenberg opined that, although plaintiff did in fact have significant physical limitations and did in fact have significant disc herniations, the same were not related to the incident in question. FILING DATE: July 17, 2013.

Deliberation

two hours

Poll

10-2 (defense)

Length

10 days


#108327

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