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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
MIAMI WOMAN AWARDED NEARLY $1 MILLION IN
WINN DIXIE SLIP-AND-FALL CASE
Recent
Supreme Court Ruling Could Result in Similar Outcomes
MIAMI
- In October 1997, Nadine Lewis, the former Miami-Dade school
board employee, was in a Miami Winn Dixie, shopping near the dairy
case, when a stock boy accidentally dropped a gallon of Winn Dixie
brand orange juice. Within seconds, Lewis, slipped and fell and
suffered a herniated disc. As a result of the fall, she has undergone
a number of operations and is now confined to a wheelchair and
is permanently disabled. As a result of her injuries, the woman
is now a diabetic and her eyesight has begun to fail.
Oppenheim
represented the victim, along with Michael Buckley of Fowler White.
"It is extremely sad that a supermarket would force this woman
to take on a five year legal battle," said Oppenheim. "Winn Dixie
should have taken responsibility from day one."
The jury
handed down a $915,000 verdict for the slip-and-fall case in favor
of Nadine Lewis of Miami, but the jury decided the former school
bus driver is 45-percent responsible. "Unfortunately, the victim
would have received a lot more money had this case gone to court
after the recent ruling by the Florida Supreme Court," said Roy
Oppenheim of the Ft. Lauderdale-based law firm of Oppenheim Pilelsky.
"In future cases like this one, the new law dramatically shifts
the burden of proof away from the plaintiff and squarely on the
shoulders of the defendant."
Said the victim, "For the past five years, I have prayed each
day that justice would be done, not just for me, but for everyone
else who is afraid to fight for their legal rights."
"Based on their conduct one could imagine they seem to have a
corporate policy to aggressively defend these kinds of cases,"
added Oppenheim. "I must say they lived up to their reputation."
# # #
Oppenheim
is a partner in the firm, along with his wife Ellen Pilelsky. Oppenheim Pilelsky,
the oldest law firm in Weston, is a general practice concentrating in real estate,
litigation and consumer related matters. The firm sued Firestone Tire & Rubber
Company on behalf of all Florida residents who have been subject to the recall
of defective tires and is suing the US Government concerning the wrongful death
of a two-year old who died of meningitis after a misdiagnosis by a doctor at MacDill
Airforce Base. The law firm of Oppenheim & Pilelsky is located at: 1290 Weston
Road, Suite 300, Weston, FL 33326 (954) 384-6114 or 1-888-384-6114. Oppenheim
Pilelsky can also be found at www.oppenheimlaw.com.
/Contact:
Christine Manna or Julie Silver at Boardroom Communications, 954-370-8999.
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