TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) - A woman who fell while trying to cross a median in the parking lot of a Pennsylvania casino didn’t have enough evidence to proceed with her slip-and-fall lawsuit, a New Jersey appeals court ruled.
Maria Failla, then 79, fell and fractured her shoulder after traveling with her son from New Jersey to the Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. She testified they parked in the handicapped lot and she followed other patrons who were taking a shortcut across a grassy parking lot median.
Failla said she tripped and fell over unmarked curbing and lost consciousness. Over the objections of her son, she entered the casino and stayed there for five hours before losing consciousness again, after which she diagnosed with a broken shoulder. She sued the casino for negligence, including failing to inspect the property and fix dangerous conditions.
The trial court dismissed the case in 2021, ruling Failla was walking in an area that wasn’t intended for pedestrians and she couldn’t explain why she fell. She appealed, but the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, affirmed the dismissal.
“Plaintiff has the burden of proving what caused her fall, rather than leaving it up to the jury to conjecture,” the appeals court ruled, applying Pennsylvania law to the case although it was subject to New Jersey rules of procedure. Failla “chose to walk on a shortcut through the grassy medium rather than the marked parking lot crosswalks to enter the casino. There is no evidence that the crosswalks were inadequate or not properly maintained.”
Failla argued her case couldn’t be dismissed because her hired expert, Engineer William A. Erdman, offered his opinion that the casino was negligent for failing to discourage patrons from crossing the parking lot islands. The casino’s expert, Daniel M. Honig, said he reviewed the accident location and the pedestrian walkways complied with code.
Erdman mentioned fast traffic in the parking lot, the potential for wet spots in the grass on the island and other risks, the appeals court said, "but his report fails to articulate which of these potential hazards caused or contributed to plaintiff's fall.”
When asked whether she tripped or slipped, Failla said she couldn’t remember. Nor could she recall a specific dangerous condition that caused her to fall.
"I just, you know, I fell, I fainted, or I lost consciousness, and then I don't know anything else," she testified.
Her expert witness “summarily concluded a dangerous condition existed, but even plaintiff's deposition testimony failed to establish that a dangerous condition caused her fall,” the appeals court concluded.
The plaintiff also complained the casino didn’t send her lawyers reports of other accidents in the parking lot, but the appeals court said she couldn’t explain how that would help her case.