Tag: connecticut personal injury lawyer

Proving Notice With Evidence of Prior Ice Condition

In slip and fall cases involving ice, the injured person needs to prove notice, whether actual or constructive, of the specific defect (the ice) that caused the injury.  It is not enough to prove defendant’s notice of the general condition that caused the ice.  The injured person must offer evidence that defendant had notice, whether actual or constructive, of the specific ice that caused injury.  Actual notice is when the defendant knew of the existence of the ice prior to the incident.  Constructive notice involves proving that the ice existed for a long enough period of time that the defendant should have known about it.

One way to prove constructive notice is to present evidence that ice had formed in the particular location on prior occasions.  The evidence of prior ice is relevant to the timing aspect of constructive notice.   If the area was prone to icing, then the defendant should be held to a shorter time period for detecting and correcting the icy condition.  Stated another way, defendant should have discovered and fixed the ice more quickly because the defendant knew that the particular area was prone to icing.

How to go about discovering whether the accident location was prone to icing will be addressed in a subsequent blog post.

 

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Woman Injured In West Hartford Car Accident Retains Sabatini & Associates

A young woman injured in a recent car accident in West Hartford has retained the lawyers at Sabatini and Associates to represent her in her personal injury case.  The woman was injured by another car that went through a red light. She was taken by ambulance from the collision scene.  Sabatini and Associates has over 40 years of experience in representing people injured in Connecticut car accidents. If you have been injured in a car accident, please call our personal injury attorneys at 860-667-0839 to discuss your case.

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Six Figure Settlement in Slip and Fall Case

Attorney James Sabatini obtained a six figure settlement on behalf of his client in a slip and fall case.  The case involved a big box store located in Connecticut.  Our client was walking in an aisle when she fell due to a foreign and slippery substance on the floor.  Through investigation, Attorney Sabatini discovered that the substance on the floor came from customers sampling a chemical spray product.  Customers were regularly spraying the product in the air resulting in the product accumulating on the floor. Due to the nature of the chemical substance, the daily mopping of the floor with soap and water did not remove the substance.  It was discovered during the litigation, that the store actually had a cleaning product on site to remove the substance from the floor, but the store manager was not even aware of the cleaning product’s existence.  Thus, the cleaning product was never used and the floor was remained slippery.  The client suffered an elbow injury which required surgery.

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$190,000.00 Car Accident Settlement

Attorney James Sabatini recently secured a $190,000.00 settlement for his client who was injured in a car accident. The collision resulted in a cervical disc herniation.

 The herniation was producing radiating pain symptoms. The symptoms were delayed. In other words, the first report of the radiating pain was approximately four months after the collision. There was no surgery. The medical bills were paid and there was no insurance reimbursement for the medical bills paid.  The case was pending in Hartford Superior Court for approximately two years. The case settled two weeks prior to trial.

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Connecticut Car Accident Settlement With Little Visible Property Damage

Attorney James Sabatini has reached another settlement for his client involved in a car accident that left little visible property damage.  Cases involving little visible property damage are challenging.  The lack of visible property damage provides the defense lawyer with a simple and easy argument- if there is no significant property damage, how can there be a real injury?  There are multiple ways in which to counter such an argument.  One, while there may be little visible property damage, has there been an inspection of the vehicle behind the bumper cover.  In many instances, the damage from the collision is covered by the bumper guard. Two, did anyone hear a noise caused by the impact? If the answer is yes, then the impact was significant enough to cause a noise. Three, did the impact cause the body of the occupant of the vehicle to be moved. If yes, then the impact was significant and real. Four, was the defendant surprised by the lack of damage to his car. If yes, then the impact was significant. Five, did the injured person have any prior injuries/accidents or subsequent injuries/accidents involving the same body part claimed to be injured in the present collision. If the answer is no, it is a powerful argument that through a process of elimination, only the subject collision could have caused the injuries. Six, do you have a credible doctor supporting the person’s claim of injury? If you do  not, the chances of success are seriously if utterly damaged.  These are some but not all of the items used to take a case that is perceived to be weak by the insurance company and transform itin to a case of strength resulting either in a strong settlement or well positioned for a successful outcome at trial.

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