The team at Kenny, Burns & McGill is happy to announce that a $175,000 personal injury settlement has been secured for one of our clients who was badly injured at work.
This client, who we’ll call Ms. Marsha Rosen, worked for a company in Philadelphia that rented space in a large office building. The office building would occasionally hire cleaning crews and floor maintenance crews to take care of the building.
One evening, the floors were freshly waxed. Unfortunately, everything about this job was sloppy, beginning with how unevenly the wax was applied to the already cracked and irregular floors, and ending with the building employee giving them the “OK” regardless.
Even though this company had waxed these floors many times before, this polishing job was done poorly to the point of being hazardous. Instead of making sure the floors were covered in a thin, uniform layer of wax, the material had been allowed to build up in some spots, especially near the cracks. This caused dangerously slick areas to form that were more like a skating rink than a floor.
As Ms. Rosen was finishing up her work for the night, she unfortunately found one of these slick spots by accident. In an instant, her foot hit the wax and her leg shot out from under her, sending her lurching forward. Unable to catch her balance, Ms. Rosen landed hard on her ankle, knee, and both arms, and twisted oddly on the way down.
Suddenly in incredible pain, Ms. Rosen struggled to stand, and stumbled to an office to sit down. Ms. Rosen phoned a friend to take her to the hospital. Once there, the medics found that she had a long list of injuries; her right ankle was both sprained and fractured, both of her hands were injured, her knee was deeply bruised and swollen, and she had twisted her back.
Over the next several months, Ms. Rosen was forced to undergo multiple surgeries; three to her foot and ankle, and one to each hand. Her accident left her with chronic pain in her ankle and wrist, as well as sciatica, a nerve issue that causes intense back pain.
Too injured to return to her job and with medical bills piling up, Ms. Rosen began to look into legal action.
She quickly came across the highly reviewed law office Kenny, Burns & McGill, and made the great choice to hire attorneys Eileen Burns and Thomas Kenny to represent her in personal injury and worker’s compensation actions.
This talented duo of attorneys jumped straight into action for Ms. Rosen. The first course of action was to file a Workers’ Compensation lawsuit against Ms. Rosen’s employer.
Every state in the country uses a “no fault” system when it comes to worker compensation; this means that it does not matter whether the accident was caused by the employer or the employee, it only matters that someone was injured. Since Ms. Rosen was injured due to dangerous conditions at work, she was eligible for compensation.
Attorneys Kenny and Burns worked closely with their client to get her to a reliable doctor who could make a trustworthy assessment of her injuries and how much treatment would cost, as well as to make sure that detailed records were kept.
Fortunately, the workers’ compensation case was a resounding win; based on the medical costs incurred and the fact that she could not return to work, Ms. Rosen was awarded $105,000 in compensation! This money covered reimbursement of medical bills, lost pay, and disability benefits.
But the work did not stop there. The next step was to bring a personal injury lawsuit against the owners of the building for allowing the hazardous conditions that permanently disabled Ms. Rosen.
In Pennsylvania, legal precedent holds that when a person is invited to enter someone else’s property, the invitee can be assured that the property owner has taken “reasonable care to make the land safe for his or her entry and for his or her use for the purposes of the invitation.”
In other words, Pennsylvania law requires that a property be safe to enter and use before the owner invites anyone else to go there. If the property is not safe, then the owner may be liable for any damages or injuries caused by the unsafe conditions.
In some cases, whether or not the property owner is liable depends upon whether the owner was aware of the hazardous conditions. However, Attorney Burns and Attorney Kenny expertly argued that because the hazard (the slippery, poorly-waxed floor) was created by an agent of the owner (the owner hired the company to wax the floors), the owner had actual notice of the hazardous condition.
After many rounds of complex arguments, the Court agreed with Attorney Burns and Attorney Kenny and held the property owner liable for the damages caused by negligence and unsafe conditions. Ms. Rosen was awarded an additional $175,000 from this successful personal injury lawsuit!
This is a wonderful outcome for a hard worker who was severely injured on the job. The money from this case will allow Ms. Rosen to continue with the treatments she needs, such as additional surgeries, injections, and extended physical therapy. It will also compensate her for some of her lost wages while she is unable to return to work. Unfortunately, no amount of money can heal the chronic pain conditions resulting from her injuries, which Ms. Rosen will have to manage for the rest of her life.
Ms. Rosen was very fortunate to have full representation from two highly experienced litigators during these cases, especially the personal injury suit which went up against a powerful property owner. If you or a loved one have been harmed on the job or on someone else’s property, don’t suffer through your injuries on your own – call the talented attorneys at Kenny, Burn & McGill today! (215) 423-5500
