Facts

On April 5, 2006, at approximately 9:45 a.m., plaintiff Jennifer Montilla was at Beverly Center Mobil in the city of Los Angeles to service a car for her employer at Enterprise Ren-A-Car. After putting gas in the car, she drove it over to the air pump to put air in one of the tires. She was having difficulty putting air in one of the tires, so she decided to go get some help from the cashier inside. It had been raining and the tiled walkway outside the gas mart was wet. The tiled walkway had a yellow caution sign and slip-resistant mats. Plaintiff stepped on the wet tile instead of the mats, causing her to slip and fall.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The mats should have covered every inch of the tiled walkway and should have been placed end-to-end without spaces in between. Plaintiff could not have seen the yellow caution sign from the direction where she was coming. Plaintiff was also walking briskly in the rain and not running as defendant contended.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff Jennifer Montilla was running in the rain when she slipped and fell on the wet tile. The tile was covered with slip resistant mats and there was a yellow caution sign warning plaintiff of the wet tile. If plaintiff was paying attention to where she was going and not running, she would have stepped on the mats instead of the tile. The tile, even though wet, has never caused anybody before to slip and fall.

Injuries

Right elbow fracture requiring open reduction internal fixation surgery.

Result

Settlement, $250,000.