Slip and fall ends in $440K award after landlord refuses to tender insurance
The company's stance was an apparent attempt to gain leverage in settlement negotiations and convince the plaintiff to accept a nominal settlement.
A condominium association has agreed to pay $440,000 in an Essex County, New Jersey, slip-and-fall suit after initially refusing to put its insurance carrier on notice about the claim.
The defendant condominium complex owner’s initial refusal to tender its insurance and its refusal to even provide information about its coverage meant the case took years to litigate as a result of motion practice, appeals and delays, said Cory Rothbort of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman in Roseland, who represented plaintiff Dawn Cooper.
Cooper, a resident of a Newark condominium complex known as Forest Hill Terrace, was injured after slipping on a puddle of water on the laundry room floor on June 16, 2018, according to the complaint. She filed suit Dec. 19, 2019, naming Forest Hill Terrace Association, doing business as Forest Hill Terrace, a condominium; and Forest Hill Group.
Now 53, Cooper was a factory worker before the accident, Rothbort said. She suffered a wrist injury that required surgery and will need additional treatment, including more surgery. She also underwent arthroscopic surgery for a knee injury, causing her to miss three years of work, Rothbort said.
After it was served with the complaint, the defendant Forest Hill Terrace Association made it clear to Rothbort that it would not put its carrier on notice of the claim. The company’s stance was an apparent attempt to gain an advantage in settlement negotiations and convince the plaintiff to accept a nominal settlement, Rothbort said.
“I think it was their attempt at trying to leverage my client, and it didn’t work,” he said.
Rothbort filed a motion to compel the defendants to disclose information about their insurance coverage. On Jan. 8, 2021, Superior Court Judge L. Grace Spencer granted Rothbort’s motion, ordered the defendants to disclose their insurance policy information and allowed Rothbort to contact the insurance carrier directly. Rothbort then moved to compel the Forest Hill defendants to tender an indemnification claim to carrier United Specialty Insurance Co., but the motion was dismissed.
On May 3, 2021, Rothbort filed a declaratory judgment action against United Specialty, seeking a judgment that it must provide liability coverage for Cooper’s accident. Judge Lisa Adubato dismissed that suit on Sept. 10, 2021.
Rothbort brought an appeal, and on July 5, 2022, a panel of the Appellate Division vacated the order denying the plaintiff’s motion to compel Forest Hill to tender a claim to United. The panel affirmed the order dismissing the declaratory judgment complaint seeking coverage.
On Aug. 5, 2022, Rothbort brought a separate complaint against the Forest Hill defendants, seeking to compel them to tender a claim. After that, the underlying personal injury claim went to arbitration.
On Oct. 10, 2023, a court-ordered arbitrator awarded $700,000 and found that Cooper and Forest Hill were each 50% liable, putting the plaintiff’s potential recovery at $350,000. The finding that the plaintiff was partly at fault was related to her delay of several weeks in seeking treatment after the fall, and her misstatement about when the accident occurred, Rothbort said.
On Nov. 20, 2023, the Forest Hill defendants tendered their claim to the carrier, Rothbort said.
On April 17, the case settled for $440,000 after two settlement conferences with Judge Cynthia Santomauro, Rothbort said.
The lawyer for the Forest Hill defendants, Jonathan Mehl of Mehl Legal in Rutherford, did not return a call about the case.
The Forest Hill defendants described their stance on insurance coverage as a business decision, Rothbort said.
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