Plaintiff claimed that while exiting a store owned by Eamon Merrigan’s clients, her left foot encountered a crack on the top concrete step of the exit causing her to lose her balance making her stumble down the next step and fall to the sidewalk. The fall was captured on video, and Mr. Merrigan’s clients conceded that they were aware that the defect existed at the time of Plaintiff’s fall. As a result of her fall, Plaintiff fractured her left ankle requiring surgical repair with hardware placement. The 43-year-old Plaintiff never returned to work, continues to walk with a cane, and her medical expert testified that she may need ankle replacement surgery in the future.
On behalf of his client, Mr. Merrigan offered a frame-by-frame analysis of the video footage of Plaintiff’s fall, and argued that the footage suggested that Plaintiff’s left foot never encountered the cracked concrete. Mr. Merrigan also argued that the footage further indicated that Plaintiff simply stepped awkwardly onto her right foot causing her to lose her balance and fall. After just 80 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Merrigan’s clients.
