We don’t brag about how much money we get for our clients.
“Here at Bianca | Matkins, we don’t brag about the dollar amounts of the judgments or settlements obtained for our clients. We take the position that flashing large settlement numbers on our website to attract clients is simply wrong and sends the message to injured victims seeking justice that it is all about the money for us. We firmly believe this type of advertising is inappropriate since it is misleading. Every case is different. The success of each case depends on the facts and circumstances of the accident, and the amount of money our clients are entitled to for their harms and losses depends on a variety of factors, most importantly, the severity of the client’s injuries and how those injuries have affected their life.”
–- Dominick “Rusty” Bianca
Premises Liability – Permanent Injuries from Falling into Parking Lot Pothole
An eighty-two-year-old woman who was a frequent customer of the SuperValu Store in St. Francisville, Louisiana was known by residents to walk from her nearby home to the neighborhood grocery store almost daily. The only route available for pedestrians to enter the store from the roadway was to walk across a poorly maintained parking lot. On the day of her fall, she had to walk around several parked vehicles and fell into a six-inch deep pothole.
The pothole caused our client to fall to the ground and severely break her arm requiring surgery with internal fixation and the use of a metal plate and screws. After her surgery, she was no longer able to care for herself, suffered from extreme depression, and was confined to a nursing home.
The owners of the store breached their duty to keep its premises in a reasonably safe condition, free from hazards to pedestrians who were expected to use the parking lot as a walkway to get to the store. They admitted knowledge of the parking lot’s poor and unsafe condition prior to the plaintiff’s fall and failed to make the proper repairs to create a safe walkway for their customers.
Our client recovered fair and just compensation in monetary damages through settlement for her physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, diminished capacity to enjoy life, permanent disability, permanent disfigurement, and medical expenses as a result of the owner’s negligence.
Premises Liability – Disabling Injury After Falling Over Pallet Jack
Our client was a customer shopping for a birthday gift for her grandson on the toy aisle of a Baton Rouge Walmart when a store employee placed a pallet jack directly behind her without her knowledge. As she was attempting to view a toy on one of the top shelves and unaware that the pallet jack had been placed behind her only moments before, she stepped backwards, falling over the pallet jack. The entire incident was captured on the store’s video surveillance system.
As a result, our client’s lower back struck the pallet jack and floor. The impact of the fall caused L4-5 and L5-S1 disc herniations with spinal cord impingement at these levels. She developed severe symptoms of shooting pain into her leg and a condition referred to as drop foot. This condition caused her to stumble and trip on a regular basis. Her symptoms were so severe she had to have spinal fusion surgery to stabilize her vertebra and reduce pressure on the nerves going into her legs. Due to her injuries, she was unable to return to work for an extended period causing significant financial burden to her and her family and caused her to suffer added anxiety and depression. She was also unable to enjoy the daily activities of life to the extent that she was prior to her injury.
The incident was caused by the negligence of the Walmart employee due to his breach of the duty to exercise reasonable care in creating the hazardous condition by placing the pallet jack in a location that could foreseeably cause a customer to fall. It was determined that the employee violated Walmart’s general safety policy by leaving the pallet jack unattended in the vicinity of a customer. Walmart’s employee created an unsafe condition which caused our client’s injury.
Prior to trial, a settlement was obtained through mediation compensating our client for her harms and losses which included her physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, diminished capacity to enjoy life, and past and future medical expenses.
