Elderly Woman Dies from Fall in Puddle of Water

An elderly woman fell in a puddle of water near an elevator in a hospital. She was taken to the ER, treated for a dislocated shoulder, and released. Family members found her unconscious the next morning. She died less than a week later from intracranial bleeding.

Shortly after the fall, a witness gave a security officer an oral statement. The security officer failed to record the statement because he had left his notebook and witness forms at the security desk.

The woman’s family sued the hospital for premises liability (but somewhat curiously not for medical negligence).  The trial court granted summary judgment against the woman’s family – dismissing their negligence claim.  A jury was left with a question of spoliation of evidence claim – whether the hospital should be presumed negligent for failing to preserve evidence – here, the identity of the witness the security guard failed to record. The jury found for the hospital. The family appealed both the summary judgment dismissal on the negligence claim, and the jury instructions the trial court gave on spoliation. The Washington Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the hospital on both issues.[1]

The family argued that the flooring material was dangerously slippery when wet, and therefore a slip and fall injury was foreseeable. The family, however, could produce no evidence to show how long the water had been on the floor.

The Court of Appeals noted that the flooring was safely slip-resistant when dry, and that the water spill was a temporary condition. The Court ruled that under Washington law the family would have to show actual or constructive notice of the particular patch of wet flooring that caused the woman’s fall.

There was no evidence of actual prior knowledge. To show constructive knowledge the family would have had to show that the water was on the floor for such a long period that is was unreasonable for the hospital to not have found and corrected the hazard. However, the family produced no evidence of how long the spill had been there.

The Court of Appeals also ruled against the family on the spoliation issue. The family had argued that the trial judge should have instructed the jury that the family did not have to prove the hospital acted in bad faith by not recording the witness’s identity.

The Court of Appeals noted that the instruction given by the trial judge only listed bad faith as one factor among others, not an element that must be proven.

This is yet another example of just how tough slip and fall cases can be. Here, sadly, the woman died as a result of her injury, but the hospital is not liable.

We turn many slip and fall cases away, but we have also successfully handled slip and fall cases. If you have been injured on someone’s property, we would be happy to offer a personal injury case evaluation.