Our client, an elderly retired woman, pulled up to a gas pump in Miami-Dade County, stepped out of her vehicle, and immediately slipped and fell to the ground on what appeared to be a dark, slippery substance near the pump. No gas station employees came out to help her. No incident report was taken. The fall broke her left hip. She was transported to an urgent care facility and then transferred to a hospital where she underwent hip surgery two days later. A critical piece of evidence emerged: as our client was being transported from the scene, a gas station employee was observed cleaning the area where she fell using an absorbent powder. Her daughter and a nurse also detected the smell of gasoline on her clothing at the urgent care facility. Mausner Group secured a settlement of $150,000 despite the challenging liability facts.
Despite the absence of an incident report and confirmed video footage, Mausner Group built the case around the circumstantial evidence: the dark substance on the ground, the smell of gasoline on our client's clothing documented at the urgent care facility, and the employee's immediate cleanup response after the fall. That combination established that the hazardous condition was present, that the station's employees were aware enough to clean it up the moment our client was removed, and that no steps had been taken to warn customers or address the spill beforehand. Even when liability is difficult, Mausner Group finds a way.
