$700,000 settlement

A woman who injured her hip when she slipped in a hotel parking lot settled her case for a total of $700,000, according to her attorney.

Nicholas Hinrichs of the Hinrichs & Scott Law Firm said his client was attending a work conference at a convention center connected to a hotel on Nov. 27, 2018, two days after a snowstorm.

A snow removal company, per their contract, sent a plow to clear the hotel parking the following day. A 2-inch layer of ice remained on the surface in several areas of the parking lot. The hotel called the snow removal company’s emergency help line to report the dangerous condition, but the company said they were too busy to come back out that day.

Hinrichs said the hotel employees acknowledged in their depositions that they had insufficient tools and supplies to remove the ice themselves. The hotel manager just assumed the snow removal company would replough the parking lot the following day. No other action was taken by the hotel. The snow removal company never returned.

On the day of the conference, the plaintiff slipped on a patch of ice near the entrance and fractured her right hip. She was taken by ambulance to CenterPoint Medical Center, and an emergency total hip arthroplasty was performed.

Hinrichs said the parties reached a settlement just before trial, which had been delayed several times during the pandemic. He said it was a particularly large recovery for a slip-and-fall case that didn’t result in a fatality or head injury.

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Premises liability

Breakdown: $200,000 from hotel, $500,000 from snow removal company

Venue: Jackson County Circuit Court

Case Number/Date: Confidential/Aug. 1, 2022

Judge: Marco A. Rolda

Special Damages: $73,370

Caption: Confidential

Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Nicholas Hinrichs and Josh Scott, Hinrichs & Scott Law Firm, Kansas City

Defendants’ Attorneys: Confidential