Saturday is Settlement Day. Today, it’s the story of a little bit of ice, a banged knee, and creative contract interpretation.
We recently obtained a $70,000 settlement for an employee walking through her parking lot when she slipped on ice and fell, injuring her knee. She was wearing high heels and it hadn’t snowed for days. She didn’t see the ice patch until she returned to her car after seeing the company nurse and saw ice melt spread on the patch. She missed no time from work, had minor surgery to fix her knee (which was still achy afterwards), and incurred only $16,000 in medical bills.
How could we settle this claim without helpful facts? By understanding not only premises liability, but also contract law.
The employee’s company was the exclusive tenant of a large complex of buildings. The company insisted on language in the agreement between the buildings’ property manager and the snow plowing company requiring the company to indemnify (pay for any losses) the company’s employees for any risk or loss “arising out of the agreement.” The agreement also required the plowing company to remove snow and ice on a 7-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day basis. We also took a deposition of the company’s facility manager, who testified that the plowing company knew that it was to remove snow “down to the last flake.”
Over the objection of the plowing company, we won the right to amend our complaint against the plowing company to claim a breach of contract. A month later, at mediation, they settled.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat (or settle a lawsuit). We pride ourselves on the kind of creativity that got our client compensated.
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