All we know from the complaint (DocStoc) is that about two years ago, a "foreign substance" on the floor of a Washington Mutual Bank branch on West Morse Ave. caused Rose Marie Moreno to slip and fall. Her injuries from the fall allegedly led to her death two days later.
Her surviving daughter Tabatha is the named plaintiff in the lawsuit against WaMu (along with parent company JP Morgan Chase and others) for wrongful death and survival linked to premises liability.
The foreign substance, whatever it was, "had been blown or tracked into WaMu Bank," eventually taking down the deceased. There is plenty of detail in the complaint, but more or less limited to a restatement of the fact that a) the floor was unacceptably dirty and b) Mrs. Moreno slipped, fell and died soon thereafter. The incident sure makes a strong argument for online banking.
Did she have any special conditions or difficulty walking that could have played a bigger role in her death? The complaint, of course, doesn't say.
It should be pretty easy to demonstrate that the deceased would still be with us today if she hadn't fallen, but the devil's always in the details (i.e. the discovery process).
At least the accident happened in a bank, which can't really claim inability to pay out damages. But you better believe WaMu/JP Morgan has the legal firepower to fight this one tooth and nail if for some reason it doesn't settle first.
- The Small Business Owner and Slip-and-Fall Accidents: Overview (FindLaw)
- Slip and Fall Accidents: Proving Fault (FindLaw)
- Chicago Injury Lawyers (FindLaw)
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