In almost every family, there is at least one person who refuses to eat in restaurants under any circumstances, and that person’s reasons are usually a manifestation of his or her general nature as a control freak. For example, the person might be the sort who reads ingredient labels carefully and fastidiously measures portions but does not trust the staff of restaurant kitchens to be so meticulous. Perhaps your relative is a germophobe who imagines that the cook who prepared her food was wearing the same pair of gloves that he was wearing when he put improperly washed lettuce into someone else’s salad bowl. Perhaps your restaurant-phobic relative makes frugality his identity, plans grocery shopping trips weeks in advance, and never enters a supermarket without a veritable armory of coupons.
When people worry about the dangers of restaurants, the restaurant parking lot is not usually the focus of their fears. Despite this, customers sometimes get injured in restaurant parking lots or on the walkways leading up to restaurants, and when this happens, the restaurant is legally responsible if the injury results from unsafe conditions. If you have suffered injuries in a preventable accident on the premises of a restaurant, contact a Santa Fe slip-and-fall and premises liability lawyer.
Woman Suffered Spinal Injury After Falling in Pothole
Maria’s New Mexico Kitchen is familiar to almost all residents of Santa Fe and even to people who have visited; the restaurant, which serves up local cuisine, has been in operation since 1950. Since 2013, it has been under the ownership of Gerald Peters, the owner of a local real estate empire.
In 2019, Megan Jade Gonzalez was walking in the parking lot of Maria’s when she slipped and fell on an uneven surface where there was a pothole. As a result, she suffered spinal injuries that will require lifelong treatment to manage her symptoms. Gonzalez sued the restaurant, which is a common occurrence when customers get injured in slip and fall accidents at places of business. What is unusual about her case is that it went to trial; most premises liability cases, and most personal injury cases in general, result in the parties agreeing to a settlement without a judge or jury deciding the amount.
In Gonzalez’s case, the trial involved a jury, which almost always happens in criminal cases but only sometimes happens in civil trials, such as in premises liability cases. The trial lasted for four days, and in the end, the jury decided to award Gonzalez $31 million in damages. Damages awards in premises liability cases are meant to cover the plaintiff’s past and future medical expenses related to the accident and the plaintiff’s past and future lost income if he or she is no longer able to work because of the accident-related injuries.
Contact Slate Stern About Premises Liability Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured as a result of slip and fall accidents. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.aol.com/jury-awards-31-million-fall-033300601.html