PHILADELPHIA – A federal judge has ruled that a woman who claimed she fell on a sidewalk outside the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, did not conclusively prove that the government was responsible for the area.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge John R. Padova issued his opinion on May 19, dismissing plaintiff Linda F. McNeill’s lawsuit against the United States of America and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“On Dec. 10, 2018, at approximately 12 p.m., plaintiff was walking on the grounds of the VA Medical Center in West Philadelphia to have lunch with a friend there when she tripped and fell. At trial, plaintiff testified that she tripped on an indentation in the sidewalk and marked the specific location on a photograph of the sidewalk as shown below,” Padova said.
“Plaintiff further testified that, when her left foot hit the indentation in the sidewalk, she took a few steps forward and fell forward, landing on her right hand, which was bent backwards and painful. Plaintiff believed, after the fall, that she had broken her hand. Plaintiff then drove herself to the emergency room at Mercy Hospital where she sought treatment for her injuries.”
According to Padova, McNeill’s trial testimony regarding where she tripped was different from her deposition testimony, in which she stated under oath that she could not recall which rectangular object she tripped over.
Though McNeill was an invited to the guest to the premises, Padova explained the burden was on her to prove both that a defect existed in the sidewalk, and that the defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of the defect prior to her fall.
It was a burden she did not meet, according to the judge.
“Plaintiff testified that an indentation in the sidewalk caused her to trip and marked the location of her fall on what appears to be a rectangular utility box. However, the photograph of the sidewalk that she entered into evidence at trial does not clearly show that the area she has identified as the indentation is lower than the surrounding sidewalk,” Padova said.
“Moreover, plaintiff has introduced no measurements or other evidence showing the size, depth or condition of the alleged indentation. While there is ‘no definite or mathematical rule as to the depth or size of a sidewalk depression…to determine whether the defect is trivial as a matter of law,” plaintiff has failed to introduce any other evidence regarding the circumstances of her fall that would allow us to conclude that plaintiff has carried her burden of proving that a non-trivial defect existed in the sidewalk on the VA’s property.
For these reasons, Padova dismissed McNeill’s litigation.
“We conclude, accordingly, that plaintiff has failed to satisfy her obligation of proving the existence of a defective condition on the sidewalk that caused her to fall. For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that plaintiff has failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant was negligent, in connection with her fall on the sidewalk of the property possessed by defendant,” Padova stated.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-00105
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com