Here is the latest premises case involving freshly fallen snow. In Clifford v. Crye-Lieke Commercial, Inc., No. M2005-00376-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. App. M.S. July 11, 2006), Judge Koch and his colleagues affirmed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant in a slip and fall case involving freshly fallen snow.…
Articles Posted in Premises Liability
Causation in a Criminal Act of Third Party Case
Here is a great opinion out of California that does a nice job of handling the “causation” issue in a case against a security guard company that is alleged to have failed to provide proper protection to a c-store employee. The case is Mukthar v. Latin American Security Company, B183968…
Shrimp Case Falls Short
You have undoubtedly heard about the claim against a Benihana restaurant where a man allegedly died because he was hit in the face by a shrimp. The jury did not hold the restaurant liable. These were the facts according to the article at www.law.com: “On Jan. 27, 2001, Mr. Colaitis,…
Workplace Safety
When a employee is working on the property of another and is injured there is always a fight over whether the employee can sue the property owner who hired the injured person’s employer to perform the work. Here is a case out of California that the issue this way: “when,…
Vioxx Back in the News
The Vioxx litigation is heating up in a public way again. There is a trial in state court in Texas involving the death of a 71 year old man – he allegedly took 25 mg of Vioxx daily for seven days sometime in the last 30 days before he had…
Jailed Plaintiff Answers the Call of Nature – And Falls
“If you have to go to the bathroom, you have to go, water on the floor or not.” That comes to us from Judge Susano, writing a concurring opinion in a new slip and fall case out of East Tennessee. The incarcerated plaintiff got up at 1:00 A.M. to use…
Recognized in Automatic Door Case
The New Jersey Supreme Court has held that a plaintiff is entitled to a res ipsa instruction in an case in which an automatic door unexpectantly closed and caused injury. Because of that determination, the plaintiff was entitled to get by a summary judgment motion and have a jury decide…
Selling Gas to a Drunk
There has been a lot of talk about the decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court in the case of West v. East Tennessee Pioneer Oil Co.; even the Tennessesan has weighed in with an editorial. The Court held that convenience store employees owe a duty of reasonable care to persons…
New Slip and Fall Opinion
This opinion by Judge Koch does a great job summarizing the “slip and fall” law as it exists in Tennessee. This decision does not include a discussion of the so-called “method of operation” theory; that particular topic is addressed in a recent decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court. If you…
Fire Codes
There is a change coming in fire safety codes – sprinkler systems will now be required in nursing homes, certain nightclubs and 1-2 family dwellings. The changes were adopted by the National Fire Protection Association and go into effect August 18, 2005. You can read about the changes in this…