Corboy & Demetrio Announces Jury Awards $740,000 to Chicago Woman who Tripped on Stairs

A Cook County jury returned a verdict of $740,000 on Friday for a 57-year-old Chicago woman who tripped on stairs while visiting her sister in a Northside condominium.

Corboy & Demetrio partners Francis Patrick Murphy and Robert J. Bingle represented the Chicago woman in the slip and fall case.  The victim, 53 years old when she tripped on a back staircase in the common area of the condo near Ridge and Devon Avenues, suffered a tibial plateau fracture.  The victim had an initial surgery and eventually needed a knee replacement.   Evidence at trial showed the stairs in the four-flat condo were dimly lit and that she suffered little or no pain after the knee replacement.

“What makes our client's injuries so tragic is that this fall was easily preventable: simply turn on the light for guests," Francis Patrick Murphy said.  “This verdict should be a wake-up call to all condo associations, big or small, that if you do not keep your property safe for guests, you are going to pay if they get hurt," Murphy added.

The trial of the slip and fall case lasted four days.  It took jurors two hours to return their verdict.