Case Study | Slip Trip & Fall Accident
The plaintiff slipped and fell on ice and as a result suffered from a torn quadricep. The landlord argued the ice was merely a remnant of a prior storm and posed no foreseeable danger. Our video evidence destroyed that defense.
Our client was an employee at an industrial business on Long Island. The company leased the building and yard from a private landlord. On the day of the accident, our client slipped on a patch of ice in the driveway and suffered a torn quadricep — a serious injury requiring surgery and extended recovery.
What made this case significant was proving the source of the ice. Weeks had passed since the last storm. Only one small patch remained — and that patch was not random. Through investigation, we established that the property’s gutter system was chronically inadequate. On heavy rain days, the gutters overflowed and flooded the parking lot. That water froze, melted over time, and left behind the isolated patch that injured our client.
| 1 | Investigation Identified the property’s defective gutter system as the true source of the ice — not a routine storm remnant. |
| 2 | Video Evidence Captured footage on a heavy rain day showing gutters overflowing and water flooding into the parking lot. |
| 3 | Landlord Liability Established the landlord — not the tenant business — bore responsibility for the structural defect creating the hazard. |
| 4 | Pre-Trial Settlement Defendant settled for $550,000 before trial. The evidence left no room to dispute liability. |
The landlord claimed the ice was a harmless remnant of a prior storm — unrelated to any structural defect and not sufficiently dangerous to impose liability.
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