Summary Judgment – No Duty Owed For Bride’s Bachelorette Party Injury

Attorney Katherine Crouch recently obtained summary judgment in a premises liability case in Cook County. The Plaintiff was celebrating her bachelorette party at our client’s establishment. She slipped and fell on a spilled drink, landing on broken glass and resulting in a laceration to her wrist. She sustained a severed tendon that required surgery and left her with permanent nerve damage and deficits. She claimed her damages were compounded by the fact that her injury occurred very shortly before her wedding and honeymoon. Plaintiff’s attorneys demanded $600,000 to settle the case.

LPP’s attorney developed a constructive notice defense. She elicited evidence during deposition testimony of Plaintiff and her friends that nobody saw the spilled drink or broken glass while passing the same area just fifteen minutes prior to the fall. Furthermore, our client’s employees testified to their diligent inspection habits. In granting our motion for summary judgment, the trial court agreed with our position that the glass could have been dropped mere seconds before Plaintiff’s fall, so Plaintiff was unable to create a question of fact showing that our client had constructive notice of the condition. The court rejected Plaintiff’s argument that, because spills can happen, the business owner is always on constructive notice of the potential danger created by that condition or any specific spill. Frantz v. SNGS, Inc., 13 L 11360.