Posted: November 3, 2016
A local woman has sued the ShopRite store in Oakland over injuries she suffered in a slip and fall on its property. Carol DiPasquale, 55, filed a lawsuit in Bergen Countty alleging she slipped on a string bean and “violently fell to the floor” in the produce department two years ago.
DiPasquale claims that the store was negligent in allowing the food to fall to the floor and not cleaning it up. She alleges that the store should have placed mats or other safety devices in an area that it “knew to be ultra hazardous to their customers.”
As a result of ShopRite’s alleged negligence, DiPasquale says she suffered severe and permanent injuries that left her disabled and disfigured. According to court papers, the injures have left her unable to work while medical expenses accumulate.
About slip and fall lawsuits
A slip and fall is a type of premises liability action – a negligence case where someone is injured on property owned or occupied by someone else. Owners and occupiers are under a duty to keep the premises free of hazards or to warn of hazards that are not obvious in order to protect visitors. When their failure to do so leads to an injury, the victim may be entitled to compensation.
The DiPasquale lawsuit is not the first time an injury victim has filed a slip and fall action against ShopRite. In 2010, a Wharton woman settled an injury claim against the store for an undisclosed amount after a judge overturned a nearly $900,000 verdict in her favor and ordered a new trial. She allegedly suffered a neck injury when she slipped and fell in the grocery store, winning a jury verdict of $876,000. However an appeals court overturned the verdict and ordered it be sent back to trial after a juror published an article suggesting he had unduly influenced other jurors.
More recently, in late 2013, a woman won a substantial verdict of more than $3 million against ShopRite after she was injured in a fall. She suffered head, neck, and shoulder injuries that included a torn rotator cuff and a concussion. The plaintiff introduced evidence that her fall had been caused by rice that must have been pouring to the floor for at least an hour.
New Jersey slip & fall attorneys
Slip and fall lawsuits are highly fact-specific. A plaintiff needs to be able to offer evidence of each element of liability in order to prove liability and receive compensation. If you have been injured in a slip and fall in New Jersey, don’t roll the dice with a jack-of-all-trades; put your claim in the hands of an experienced and dedicated premises liability lawyer.
The law firm of Eisbrouch Marsh has been representing injury victims in New York and New Jersey for more than a quarter of a century. Our main office in Hackensack, NJ is convenient for clients in Bergen County and the rest of northern New Jersey. We offer a free legal consultation, a full legal support staff skilled in fact investigation, and committed attorneys who communicate regularly throughout the process. For a confidential case review, call 201-342-5545.
Resources
- New Jersey.com, String bean slip-and-fall lawsuit filed against ShopRite Store, http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2016/10/north_jersey_woman_sues_shoprite_claims_she_slippe.html
- Verdict Search, Shopper: Rice had been spilling on the floor for at least an hour, http://verdictsearch.com/verdict/shopper-rice-had-been-spilling-onto-floor-for-at-least-an-hour/
