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CONFIDENTIAL

Oct. 5, 2004

Personal Injury
Premises Liability
Trip and Fall

Confidential

Settlement –  $170,000

Court

Orange Superior


Attorneys

Plaintiff

James T. Catlow
(Doherty & Catlow)


Defendant

James L. Chase

Charles A. Kittrell


Experts

Plaintiff

Todd D. Moldawer
(medical)

Marianne Inouye MBA
(technical)

Charles E. Turnbow
(technical)

Rodney Bluestone M.D.
(medical)

Facts

On April 22, 2002, the plaintiff, Gina D'Este, a 34-year-old pharmaceutical sales person, was attending a business meeting/breakfast, at the defendant Hof's Hut Restaurant. She left the table to go to the restroom. She took one step onto the tile floor of the bathroom as she was opening the door, her foot went out from underneath her, and she fell, landing on her hip, shoulder and buttocks. Discovery concluded that the carpeting outside of the tile restroom floor was still wet from an overnight cleaning and that this was the cause of the fall. Wet carpeting and relationship to midnight cleaning was confirmed, both by the restaurant manager and the risk administrator, whose offices were next door and who was on the scene within two hours of the fall.

Specials in Evidence

$30,000 $50,000

Injuries

The plaintiff sustained soft tissue neck and back injuries and eventually developed traumatically induced fibromyalgia. This was confirmed by the plaintiff's three expert witnesses.


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