Partners Sandy Roussas and Eric Stockman obtained a defense verdict in Stamford Superior Court

SOC Partners Sandy Roussas and Eric Stockman obtained a defense verdict in Stamford Superior Court on behalf of a Connecticut Hospital in a premises liability case.  Plaintiff alleged that she fell on a staircase in the facility when the aglet of her shoelace became caught in a gap between the stair and the wall causing her to fall forward.  Plaintiff claimed that the “defect” was dangerous, and that the Hospital was negligent in its duty to keep the premises reasonably safe. Attorney Roussas, in her opening statement and throughout the trial, did not dispute that plaintiff incurred injuries including a fracture left femur, pulmonary embolism, left lower extremity pain and chest pain.  Rather, the defense focused their efforts on proving to the jury that this gap was not unreasonably dangerous and was not a defect.  Moreover, the defense argued that plaintiff’s shoelace could not have possibly gotten caught in the gap unless plaintiff’s shoelaces were untied, making plaintiff comparatively negligent.  Plaintiff asked for $500,000 in damages and $12,000 annually over plaintiff’s life expectancy for her residual pain.  The jury returned a defense verdict in just over an hour.