Burns White Attorney Matthew Fry recently obtained a defense award in a Federal Court arbitration on behalf of a prison facility accused of negligence claims that allegedly led to a severe shoulder injury that required surgery. Plaintiff, an inmate worker, claimed that he slipped and fell while running to break up a fight on the block, and did not see another inmate mopping the floor. Plaintiff claimed that the inmate mopping the floor should have put up wet floor signs to warn others that the floor was wet. Defendants contended that the inmate was not an employee of the prison and could not be held responsible for the mopping inmate worker. Defendant also contended that wet floor signs were placed around the block, and Plaintiff should have known the floor was wet because the inmate mopping the floor was in plain sight. Lastly, Plaintiff should not have been running or trying to break up a fight and, as a result, was comparatively negligent.
A three-member Federal Court arbitration panel unanimously found in favor of the Defendant.