PHILADELPHIA – Plaintiff counsel in a premises liability lawsuit against a local fitness facility is seeking to exit the litigation, citing irreconcilable differences.
Charles S. Cooper of Cooper & Schall filed a motion to withdraw appearance on April 14, pointing to said differences with client Bernadette Waites as the reason for his withdrawal. Cooper stated these differences would not prejudice Waites or have any material, adverse effect on her interests, and sought a 60-day stay of all proceedings.
A hearing in this matter was set for this past Wednesday in Court chambers, at Philadelphia City Hall.
On Sept. 18, 2013, Waites was a member at Lucille Roberts Health Center on Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia and taking a class at the facility. Though the facility was not crowded when she arrived, Waites said it soon became packed and exceeded its maximum occupational capacity.
After the class and upon Waites’s exit from the facility, she allegedly tripped and fell on a stepper device and was injured. Waites averred the facility’s failure to maintain a safe environment for its customers caused her accident.
Waites allegedly suffered an oblique, non-displaced fracture of her distal fibular, a high-grade partial tear of the anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament, internal injuries and other injuries.
An arbitration hearing is currently scheduled in the case for May 25.
The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages not in excess of $50,000, plus interest, costs and other relief in this case.
The defendant is represented by Kevin R. McNulty and John A. Dougherty of Gerolamo McNulty Divis & Lewbart, also in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 150803666
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com