Foley Mansfield Team Secures Summary Judgment in Highly Contested Premises Liability Case

A Foley Mansfield team from the firm’s Tampa office, led by Partner Wayne Clark, including Associates Lydia Signorin and Niko Filipi and paralegal Justine Williams, secured a successful result for a Fortune 500 client through drafting and arguing a highly contested motion for summary judgment in a personal injury action in Polk County, Florida.
 
In this highly contested premises liability case, we represented a Fortune 500 hotel chain that the Plaintiff was a guest of. While on the property, the Plaintiff allegedly tripped on an expansion joint and allegedly sustained numerous injuries after she struck a support beam. As a result of this, she hired a large aggressive Plaintiff’s firm to represent her and made a demand of $2 Million. Her claim was that the hotel was negligent by failing to properly maintain the property, failing to inspect the property, failing to warn the Plaintiff of the alleged danger, and failure to correct the allegedly dangerous condition. After two years of contentious litigation which included numerous depositions, site inspections, and mediation, the case was finally resolved through a hearing on our Motion for Summary Judgment. After hearing argument of counsel, the Court granted our Motion, agreeing that there was no evidence to support a finding that the hotel failed to properly maintain the premises. The Court further found that the condition was open and obvious and not inherently dangerous.