Corsiglia, McMahon & Allard Holds Bay Area Apartment Complex Accountable for Parking Lot Injury

San Jose, CA — October 7, 2011 — The San Jose personal injury law firm of Corsiglia, McMahon & Allard, L.L.P. is reporting a $750,000 settlement resulting from an elderly woman who suffered serious injuries due to a trip and fall accident in a poorly lit parking lot at the Santa Clara, California Alderwood Apartment Complex.

The victim, currently 72 years old, claims that in August of 2010 she was walking at night with some companions from a parking stall to her apartment. She claimed in her lawsuit (Case No. 110CV186515) that she did not see a groove or depression that cut across a speed bump due to poor parking lot lighting and a lack of clearly visible warning markings. As a result, the elderly victim stepped into the groove and fell to the ground. She suffered a compound femur fracture which required complicated surgery and she was forced to remain in a convalescent care facility for over a month. As a result of this accident, the plaintiff also claimed that she will need future surgeries in the form of a total knee replacement and, for her other leg, knee surgery.

Alderwood Apartments claimed that the groove was created by its maintenance personnel due to drainage concerns in the parking lot. The groove was subsequently covered after the accident and is no longer a danger.

“The slip and fall accident that occurred to our client commonly occurs in parking lots, grocery stores, public buildings, hotels or on private property,” said attorney Robert Allard. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one million people in the United States experience a significant slip, trip and fall each year and 17,000 of those people die from their injuries. Slip and falls are the second leading cause of accidental death and disability.

“We provide aggressive legal representation for our clients”, states Allard. “We were hours away from trial when the insurance carrier made their settlement offer. Had we not been prepared for trial, we probably would have had to settle for a less than fair amount of compensation for our elderly slip and fall client”, said Allard.

California law states that an apartment complex is negligent if they fail to use reasonable care to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition, and a property owner must use reasonable care to discover any unsafe conditions and to repair, replace, or give adequate warning of anything that could be reasonably expected to harm others. “That’s why many of these areas that have failed to properly maintain or have failed to warn the public about dangerous conditions need to be held accountable for their negligence”, stated Allard.