42 year old woman gets injured in dressing room at Department Store

Author: Attorney Jay Kanter

Our client was at a local branch of a national retail clothing store shopping with her family on a Sunday afternoon. She brought a few garments into a designated dressing room in an effort to try them on. As she leaned down to untie her sneakers, her face made contact with a random nail that was protruding from the back of the door in the dressing room. The nail punctured her right cheek. She immediately reported the incident to a store clerk who came to the scene and saw the nail which caused the injury to our client. At first the store clerk, just bent the nail back so it did not protrude from the door. Subsequently, the store manager arrived and removed the nail from the dressing room door.

The store manager completed an incident report that indicated our client “scratched her face on the nail”. Unfortunately, the bleeding would not stop and our client had to go to the emergency room at North Broward Medical Center where she received 2 sutures to close the wound.

Customer retains Dell & Schaefer to pursue her claim for injuries and medical bills

The day following the accident, client retains Dell & Schaefer to pursue her claim for injuries. Photographs were taken immediately depicting the small facial cut sustained by our client. One week later, our client saw our primary care physician to have her sutures removed. Fortunately, that was the extent of the treatment she needed for her injury. Follow up photos were taken so that the progression of her wound could be established.

After 3 months of healing, Attorneys Dell & Schaefer took additional photographs, which depicted a very small, barely noticeable scar. The photographs and the medical bills were presented to the insurance company on behalf of our client. An initial offer of $8,000.00 was made which our client immediately rejected on the advice of her attorneys.

Attorney Dell & Schaefer settle case for $20,000.00

After some brief negotiations, Zurich Insurance Company offers $20,000.00 to settle the case. During negotiations, the insurance company stated they would not offer more than $15,000.00 to settle this claim. Our client wanted $20,000.00 to settle her case and a lawsuit was threatened. Rather than incurring the expense of litigating an injury claim, which Attorneys Dell & Schaefer believed was clearly caused by a dangerous condition in the retailer’s dressing room; the insurance company finally agreed to the $20,000.00 settlement.