It is a fact that nowadays, churches and synagogues in the city are facing shoestring lawsuits of personal injury filed by dollar-hungry claimaints that consider this legal procedure a kind of ATM machine.
A woman sued a church after she slipped at the 10th Church of Christ Scientist. The church endeavored to have the case dismissed by asking for summary judgment. The woman claimed that she was with her husband who was removing trash when the accident happened. She tripped over a mat that was rolled up that was placed among the trash so she is blaming the church for being irresponsible. She said that what the church caused the presence of the “dangerous condition”.
The church defended itself by saying that the dangerous condition was “open and obvious,” and, therefore, she could have seen it right in front of her. However, the judge disagreed with this argument and for his reason would not grant summary judgment. But the church was giving adequate prove that they did not create this dangerous condition and they receive notice about it, they won on summary judgment. The judge ruling of the judge in favor of the church was aggravated when the woman was not able to provide enough evidence to prove the mat was placed there before her fall, or the church set it there or it had knowledge it was placed there before her fall. Since the church was granted summary judgment, it will not go to trial.
Dozens of churches and synagogues that are not in healthy financial condition are forced to spend their already meager resources to settle the rash of slip-and-fall suits filed against them.
Last March, parishioner Latroia Peterson sued the church claiming that she injured her leg after tripping over a crack on its property.
Church administrators believed that many of the litigants are hard-up people who influenced of some scrupulous attorneys.
Rosemary Graham, age 68, file a suit versus Harlem’s Grace Congregational Church last year after alleging that she slipped due to a crack in front of a property owned by the church. Although she felt some anxieties about suing a house of God, she went ahead and filed the suit anyway.
Other case involved Vincent William, who sued the Family Baptist Church in The Bronx last June of 2012 claiming that he tripped on a crack. He was encouraged by an injury lawyer in the hospital to sue the church.
Bronx Pastor Bruce Rivera of the Church of Christ faced a suit after a child fell in an inflatable playpen provided by the congregation during community event.
He believed that in a litigious society, they call this money-making scheme ghetto lottery. When the child fell, the mother saw dollar signs.
But one personal injury lawyer attorney who handled this type of cases against the church justified the practice by saying that he felt no qualms filing suits versus entities whose negligence caused serious injuries.
If you have been the victim of a slip and fall, don’t delay in contacting us. It is crucial to get this type of claim started in a timely manner, because evidence can often disappear or be covered up in the aftermath of a slip and fall. Contact your slip and fall attorneys and he/she will want to get started right away in order to collect evidence and interview witnesses before they begin to forget. In addition, there are also strict deadlines for filing a slip and fall claim no matter where you live.
Source: NY Post Com