Our client was 35 years old when he visited a medical treatment facility in Broward County to accompany his wife to an appointment. He waited for her outside the front entrance -- an open, unobstructed area directly adjacent to the facility's entrance ramp, covered by an awning, with no barriers, no rope, no fencing, and no signage of any kind. As he stepped away after his wife exited, he tripped on a sudden, hidden change in elevation. He fell hard. His left clavicle shattered.X-rays confirmed a comminuted, displaced midshaft clavicle fracture. On August 12, 2024, he underwent open reduction internal fixation -- screws and plates surgically inserted into his shoulder to realign and stabilize the broken bone. Recovery brought additional complications: the fracture failed to heal properly, developing into a nonunion. He was prescribed a bone growth stimulator, which he wore for four hours every day for six weeks.The facility's own corporate representative admitted on the record that the company had overlooked preventative measures that could have prevented the fall. After the incident, the facility added hazard striping and explored fencing and warning signs. A licensed building inspector retained by our firm identified the hidden elevation change as a tripping hazard. The case settled for $227,000.
We turned a weak liability case into a winning narrative. We built the case around what the space looked like to a reasonable visitor: open, accessible, covered, adjacent to the entrance, with a history of guests standing there.We used the facility's own admissions. The corporate representative acknowledged that preventative measures had been overlooked. Post-incident remediation was the clearest possible admission that a problem existed.We retained the right expert. A licensed building inspector identified the hidden elevation change as a dangerous tripping hazard that the facility had never discovered in five years of ownership.We documented the full impact. A 35-year-old man with a shattered clavicle, surgical hardware, a nonunion complication, a pre-existing injury to his other shoulder, and a wife who needed his physical care -- that combination produced a compelling damages picture in a case where liability was far from certain.
