FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) – A Kentucky Shoney’s restaurant has defeated a lawsuit that alleged a slip-and-fall there proved fatal.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 8 against the Estate of Jane Seraphine, who broke her arm on Thanksgiving 2015 at a Shoney’s in Louisville. Two days later and after a surgery, she died.
Eventually, her estate sued both Shoney’s and her health care providers for wrongful death. They defeated those and all other claims, thanks to directed verdicts and jury verdicts in Jefferson County Circuit Court.
The estate fared no better at the appellate court in arguing that if not for the negligence of Shoney’s, Seraphine never would’ve underwent medical negligence at Baptist Health.
The appeals court said the wrongful death issue should’ve went to a jury instead of the trial judge directing a verdict for Shoney’s on it, but that mistake was harmless because the jury ruled Shoney’s did not breach any duties to Seraphine anyway.
“Admittedly, the trial court read through the entirety of the jury instructions prior to closing arguments and informed the jury that Shoney’s was not liable for wrongful death,” Judge Allison Jones wrote.
“However, Mr. Seraphine argued the same theory on premises liability against Shoney’s at closing as had been advanced for the entire duration of the trial, and the jury still deliberated on the issue of premises liability.
“Because the jury did not even find Shoney’s liable on Mr. Seraphine’s premises liability claim on that theory, they could not have found Shoney’s to be liable for wrongful death.”