49 year-old Miami woman gets injured in pool area of Miami Beach condominium and collects $78,000.00


Attorney Jason MacriAuthor: Attorney Jason Macri

A 49 year-old woman who was visiting friends at a Miami Beach condominium became injured when she tripped and fell over a wire that was used to secure chaise lounges at the condo’s outdoor pool area. The wire was a similar color to the flooring of the pool area and did not stand out in any way to the woman prior to her fall. For some reason, the condo association felt it was necessary to secure all of the chaise lounges together by running a thin, grey-colored cable through the underside of each chair. Unfortunately for our client, she had no reason to believe the cable would be there and, when she got up to adjust the back of her chair, she tripped on the wire and landed on her left knee.

She immediately knew she was in pain but was embarrassed to have fallen in front of her friends. Instead of calling an ambulance, she attempted to walk it off. By the next day, she knew she would not be able to walk this injury off. Her knee had turned purple and had swollen to the size of a small pineapple. She was in so much pain that she could not bear the thought of taking one step. She had no medical insurance and had no idea what to do next. She called our office and asked if we could help. We were able to find a doctor that was willing to see her despite her lack of insurance and inability to pay for healthcare. The doctor requested an MRI of the swollen knee and noted that she had torn her meniscus and would require surgery to repair the injury.

We contacted the condominium association and notified them that our client had become injured at their pool because of the unnecessary wire. We asked if they would pay for her surgery. Of course they declined to pay for the surgery outright but they also denied any wrongdoing whatsoever. They said that the wire was “open and obvious” and that any reasonable person would’ve seen it. We disagreed and were left with no option but to file a lawsuit.

We sued the condo association and alleged that they were negligent for having a wire, which blended in perfectly with the floor, used to secure chaise lounges. We argued that it was completely unnecessary and constituted a tripping hazard for the public. After litigating the case for several months, the condo association, through their insurance company, began to make offers to settle the case. Within a couple of months we were able to negotiate a $78,000.00 settlement of the lawsuit. This settlement enabled our client to pay for her operation and also further compensated her for the inconvenience.



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