Another this and that

 Purple is my favorite  color … but not when we’re talking about my finger.  But it’s starting to feel better.  And I’m lucky the only thing I hurt was my finger.  And my dignity. It could have been worse.  Much worse. 

I took a really bad fall in a hotel lobby in the 90’s.  Sprained my ankle so badly I wound up in a soft cast for two weeks and an Ace bandage all summer.  It was my right foot, too, so I couldn’t drive for two weeks. 

When I fell my only concern was “Am I ok?”  But eventually “lawyer brain” kicks in.  Two words: premises liability.

I used to handle premises liability cases.  People who took a bad fall…we’d send the investigator to photograph the sidewalk and measure the difference in height between slabs.


You can see a clear difference between these two slabs.  A real tripping hazard. I didn’t measure it, but it’s significant. My bruised finger is not 5be substance if a lawsuit.  But if someone gets seriously hurt …

Sidewalks here are owned by the town.  Homeowners are responsible for maintaining the sidewalks adjacent to their property.  But homeowners have no liability if someone trips on the public sidewalk unless they cause or create a dangerous condition.  And the town has no responsibility for injuries on a public sidewalk unless the town had prior notice of a dangerous condition.

So … how does the sidewalk get repaired?  Someone has to report the dangerous condition to the town.  The town sends an engineer to inspect the sidewalk.  If it’s defective, the town tells the homeowner that it must be fixed within 30 days.  The homeowner can either pay the town’s contractor or the homeowner can do the repair themselves.

So yes, I reported the sidewalk.  And now that I know the rules, I’ll be reporting any dangers I encounter.

And if my fall wasn’t bad enough …

Our office closed at noon on Friday.  I thought I’d go to the park Friday afternoon …

I spent Friday afternoon in the tire store. I thought I came in to fix a single flat tire.  Instead I wound up buying four tires.  My tires weren’t bald, they were brittle.  Rubber has a limited useful life. My tires were old … I was risking a blowout …so, new tires,.

Sigh.

But I’m headed to Jones Beach today.  I plan to take a long walk on the  boardwalk.  It’s been awhile since I’ve been down that way, and I miss it.

Besides, I have to start training for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in October. It’s a 5k walk at Jones Beach.  Started doing the walk in 2006, did it every year, even volunteered to work the registration tent a few times,  and then I just … stopped.  Call it laziness, call it inertia … I stopped participating.  But this year I’m going to do it again.

The walk isn’t until October, so I’ve got plenty of time to prepare.


Comments

  1. When I fell last year in a parking lot (likely due to how that lot really needs to be repaved), many people mentioned suing them. I didn't. Perhaps I should have reported the dangerous conditions, though. I'm not sure to whom. I don't know who owns the strip mall.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Refresh my memory, how badly were you hurt? Is a suit worth your time?

      A lawyer would know how to find out who owns the parking lot.

      Delete

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