On March 9, 2024, Brett R. Bloch and Joshua Battat obtained a defense verdict after a four day trial on behalf of the Perkins restaurant in Melbourne, Florida. On October 13, 2017, Cheryl Marbry, represented by Morgan & Morgan, was entering the restaurant when she slipped and fell in the entry foyer area. According to the Plaintiff, she took only one step and then slipped, striking her body on the floor and her head on an interior door threshold. Her injuries included multiple cervical herniated discs which required a five level fusion and spinal cord stimulator, a torn rotator cuff, a fractured radius as well as a traumatic brain injury. Her past medical costs were $643,155.04.
Without any warning, on the second day of trial, the Plaintiff’s counsel advised the court that the Plaintiff was unfit to testify due to her cognitive problems caused by her traumatic brain injury. On the third day of trial, after conducting an in camera examination of the Plaintiff, the court declared that the Plaintiff was mentally incompetent to testify at trial, thereby leaving the parties with no alternative other than to present the Plaintiff’s deposition testimony to the jury.
Although the Plaintiff contended that the restaurant failed to timely and properly inspect the foyer area and ensure that it was free of any hazards, in particular water which had accumulated on the foyer floor, the defense asserted that the Plaintiff failed to use due care when walking as she admitted that she was aware that it had rained earlier that day. Additionally, the defense stressed that the restaurant utilized indoor and outdoor mats, a wet floor warning sign and that non-skid tiles were used on the foyer floor. Further, the defendant’s manager and owner testified that the restaurant employed proper protocols, which included formal and informal inspections throughout its hours of operation. In his closing arguments, the Plaintiff’s counsel advised the jury that his client was seeking damages of her past medical charges, her future medical charges of $866,491.38 as well as past and future pain and suffering damages of $40,000,000.00. After three hours of deliberation, the jury rendered a defense verdict. A January 2021 Proposal for Settlement was rejected by the Plaintiff.
Cheryl Marbry v. Loompy, LC d/b/a Perkins Restaurant, case no. 05-2019-CA-039333 filed in the Circuit Court of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Brevard County, Florida. Hon. Curt Jacobus presiding.
