$1.275M Verdict for Man Who Suffered Broken Ankle in Fall on Ice

By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on October 8th, 2018

A Chester County man has been awarded a $1.275 million verdict by a Pennsylvania jury after he broke his ankle while trying to walk through an icy parking lot at his apartment building in November of 2014.

The victim, Michael G. White, was walking through the parking lot at his home at the Paoli Place Apartments in Paoli when he slipped and fell in the icy parking lot, breaking his ankle, according to an Oct. 4 story by The Legal Intelligencer.

The apartment complex is managed by the Westover Companies, which was named as a defendant in White’s negligence lawsuit. Limes Associates was named as the owner of the property, while Emico Inc. had been hired to provide ice and snow removal for the complex.

The victim stated in his lawsuit that he was returning home about 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 27, 2014 and was confronted by snow and ice on the driveway as he carried holiday leftovers to his apartment. He eventually slipped and fell as he attempted to make his way through the ice and snow, causing him to suffer a displaced, bimalleolar fracture, the story reported.

He was taken to a hospital to treat his injury and had to undergo surgery several days later which included the installation of screws and plates to repair his ankle, the report continued. Several years later he underwent a second surgery to remove the hardware and he is expected to require future surgeries.

“According to the complaint, the property manager for Westover and Limes received a text from a tenant about 90 minutes before the fall, saying the parking lot was ‘a sheet of ice,'” the story reported. “The complaint said the manager sent a text to the employee who was in charge of maintenance, but he ‘intentionally ignored’ the request” because it was the Thanksgiving holiday.

In its verdict, the jury found 94 percent liability on the part of the companies that owned and managed the building and six percent against the company that had been contracted to perform snow and ice removal. The eight-day trial was held before Chester County Court of Common Pleas Judge Edward Griffith. Jury deliberations took about 12 hours.

Legal cases like this one occur around the nation every day and are examples of similar kinds of cases that MyPhillyLawyer attorneys regularly work on tirelessly for our own clients. Often, we are not able to discuss the cases we are actively working on due to confidentiality requirements, so we discuss other relevant cases in the news such as this one to illustrate the legal situations people find themselves in every day.

We here at MyPhillyLawyer stand ready to assist you with your legal case if you or a loved one is ever seriously injured in any kind of fall, workplace injury or vehicle incident anywhere in the United States. We pledge to make sure that you and your family get the compassionate, dogged and experienced legal representation that you deserve and expect from a professional legal team which works hard to uncover every fact to bolster your case and maximize your damage award.

We represent the families of victims who die in such tragedies as well, to ensure that their families receive every penny of damages that they are eligible to receive.

Call MyPhillyLawyer at 215-914-5471 or toll-free at 1-(866) 352-4572 anytime and our experienced, compassionate, aggressive team of attorneys and support staff will be there for you and your family every step of the way as we manage your case through the legal system.

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Listen to Court Radio every Sunday at 7 a.m. with me, attorney Dean Weitzman of MyPhillyLawyer, on Philadelphia’s Old School 100.3 WRNB, Boom 103.9 or on Praise 107.9 WPPZ FM. Listen to Court Radio online or on the radio every week for the latest on legal topics and to get answers to your legal questions. In addition to addressing the topical issues of the day, we’ll answer caller questions on a wide range of legal issues.