Boston, Mass. (October 14, 2024) - Boston
Managing Partner Kenneth B. Walton and Partner Matthew M. O'
Leary recently secured summary judgment on behalf of a civil
engineering firm in a serious personal injury matter arising from a
trip-and-fall incident in a mall parking lot.
The client was retained to provide site civil engineering design
for the parking lot of a local mall. The design included multiple
bioretention areas known as rain gardens. In November of 2019, a
woman tripped and fell while attempting to cross a rain garden to
reach her car. She suffered significant bodily injuries, including
a fracture of the cervical spine that resulted in partial
paralysis.
The woman and her husband sued the mall's owner for
negligence and loss of consortium in June 2021. The owner, in turn,
impleaded Lewis Brisbois' client and the lot's builder,
asserting third-party claims for contribution, contractual and
common law indemnity, and breach of contract. In addition,
