PITTSBURGH – A Western Pennsylvania couple are suing an Illinois-based farmers market chain, after one of the plaintiffs struck a raised bumper and fell while shopping in a local store owned by the defendant.
Paul Ryder and Jodi Ryder of Ingomar filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 24 versus Lakes Venture, LLC (doing business as “Fresh Thyme Farmers Market”), of Downers Grove, Ill.
The suit explains the plaintiffs were shopping at the defendant’s location in Cranberry Township on Jan. 1, when the husband-plaintiff Paul Ryder encountered an unsafe, dangerous and/or otherwise hazardous condition consisting of a raised bumper which caused him to fall and strike his body on the ground.
The plaintiffs say the defendant permitted the premises to be and remain in an unsafe, dangerous and/or hazardous condition, failing to properly inspect the raised bumper on the premises and failing to warn shoppers and visitors of that condition, among other theories of negligence.
As a result, the plaintiff suffered severe injuries, including pain on the right side of his body, numbness in his legs, lower back pain and injury, leg pain and injury, weakness in his legs, depression and other possible serious and/or severe injuries, the extent of which is not yet known.
The plaintiffs add they will be required to expend considerable cost on medical attention and other health care and rehabilitative services, and that the husband-plaintiff’s general health, strength and vitality have been impaired.
For counts of negligence and loss of consortium, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of the arbitration limits of the county, plus costs, interest and a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs are represented by Jepthah M. Ormstein of Ainsman Levine, in Pittsburgh.
The defendant has not yet secured legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-20-010155
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com