Charles E. Reynolds, II, managing partner at Tyson & Mendes LLP, and IADC Board of Director, recently won two separate summary judgments in fall and injury matters in Florida.
Both of these matters were trip and falls with alleged resulting brain damage and other serious injury and occurred at beach side resorts on opposite coasts of Florida. The first, Sutley v. Ocean Trillium, involved a trip and fall at a ramp leading to a pool area. The concrete of the ramp had settled due to repeated beach erosion but we argued the condition was open and obvious with the plaintiff admitting that nothing would have obstructed her view had she been looking where she was walking rather than straight ahead. The second, Perez v. Siesta Beach House concerned a woman who fell into a shallow beach trench running from the property to the ocean to drain rainwater. Again, the Court accepted our argument that this was an open and obvious feature with no duty of the property owner to warn of the condition. These decisions may have benefited from recent changes in Florida law adopting the Daubert standard.