$577,500 for Slip and Fall
A Lake Hiawatha woman agreed last Tuesday to accept $577,500 to settle a Morris County suit over angle injuries suffered two years apart.
Marlene Draughn alleged that she fell on an ice-covered sidewalk in front of her apartment complex on Feb 21, 2003, five days after a heavy snowstorm, because the owner and manager failed to put down salt. Draughn, now 35, suffered a tri-malleolar fracture of the right ankle that required surgery, with plates and screws.
The ankle remained unstable and on Feb 2005, it gave way as she was descending a flight of stairs leaving work. Draughn sued owner Knoll Manor Associates. The defense claims their is no link between the two injuries but they felt that the proper business decision was to settle the suit.
~Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
