Philadelphia office associate Peter Cardwell recently obtained a favorable result in a Philadelphia County trip and fall case. In Quarles v. 1800 North 17th St LLC, et. al., the plaintiff alleged that she tripped and fell due to a defective sidewalk condition on our client’s property located at 12th and Diamond Streets in North Philadelphia near Temple University. The plaintiff argued that our client negligently maintained its property by allowing a defect to occur. In opposition, we argued that our client could not be held liable for the plaintiff’s alleged injuries because she did not establish that our client had actual or constructive notice of any alleged defect. In addition, we argued that any finding of liability upon our client must be diminished by the fact that the plaintiff was comparatively negligent, that there were numerous inconsistencies in her story, she only suffered soft-tissue injuries which are fully healed, she stopped seeking medical treatment, she had less than $1,000 in lost wages, and she had no outstanding medical bills. The arbitration panel agreed with our assessment and awarded the plaintiff damages that were significantly lower than the plaintiff’s pre-arbitration demand.

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