Prove What Caused the Slip in Personal Injury Slip and Fall Cases!

Submitted by New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark.

Anderson v. Stop and Shop Supermarket, N.J. Super. App. Div. (per curiam) (8 pp.) Following a slip and fall at defendant’s store, plaintiff filed a complaint seeking compensatory damages. After the completion of discovery, defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing that plaintiff could not prove that defendant had actual or constructive notice of the substance that caused her to fall.

What Happened??

Plaintiff here was not able to learn through any discovery tools what were the circumstances existed which would have put the defendant on notice of facts and circumstances of a dangerous condition, let alone the substance which was on the floor that caused plaintiff to fall.  Yet again, another case where the attorney took a case and did not investigate enough, or discuss the exact cause of plaintiff’s fall.  Plaintiff at the deposition could not even identify what caused the fall!  As a result, the court had no choice but to dismiss the case at the summary judgment level and plaintiff never even got to the jury!