#18 How Much Dumber Can You Get?
I represented a man in a slip and fall case involving a national chain that grills chicken. The restaurant is not supposed to clean the grills until after they close because it is a huge sloppy mess that involves using a garden hose and chemicals to remove all the grease. The closedown process can take up to three hours and involves packing up the food for the next day, scrubbing the grills, mopping, etc.
Even though the corporation knew this, they refused to pay more than one hour’s worth of wages after closing time. Thus, the shift managers and cooks decided that they would start the closing process two hours before closing while there were still customers in the restaurant. This was really dangerous, as employees delivering food could track the greasy water into the lobby where the customers were.
On one fateful day, two hours before closing, one of the cooks was cleaning the grills, using the hose to wash them down. This slurry was so slick that the cook had to wear a plastic smock and slip-resistant shoes for the process. While he was waiting for the chemicals to remove the grease which takes about 15 minutes, the cook went into the lobby, tracking the stuff into a hallway.
My client walked out of the restroom and slipped in the greasy water. He hit his head so hard that it caused a subdural hematoma, which required surgery to relieve the swelling and blood from the brain. Go figure, the video system wasn’t working that day. In any case, right after that, the cook was fired and the corporation claimed that they could not locate him during litigation.
I did some research and found a relative of the cook, which eventually led to me finding him. He admitted that he was cleaning the grill, but denied that he was the one that tracked the greasy water into the lobby since all of the other employees could have been just as guilty. The corporation, during the entire three-week trial, testified that cleaning the grills before closing was against their policy and that it NEVER happens.
Thus, it had to be anything else that caused my client to fall. I was talking to the cook before trial because we were going to call him as a witness. He was angry that they fired him. I asked, “Do you think they are still cleaning before closing because they are denying that they do.” He told me, “Absolutely.” On the first day of trial, I sent my investigator to the restaurant at the time my client was injured which was two hours before closing to record video on his cell phone whether they were cleaning or not.
Guess what, they had the hose out and everything. I couldn’t believe that they would continue to do this at the restaurant at issue in the case. I told my investigator to go back up there when there was a different shift manager and cook to see if they were doing the same thing. They were. At the end of the trial, the defense put on their general manager for the region. He swore up and down that this never happens. He was their last witness.
We got up and said, “Judge, we need a sidebar.” In the judge’s chambers, we revealed the videos to the other side. The attorney for the corporation was freaking out. The judge let it in for rebuttal. The last thing the jury saw before going into deliberations was five minutes of video with audio of the hose as they were cleaning the grills two hours before closing. We completely wiped out their entire defense in a three week trial with that video. Needless to say, we prevailed.
Credit: Cepheus
