Shawn Wood is a commercial litigator and partner with the national law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Shawn is also a monthly columnist for Chicago Lawyer magazine and a recipient of its Annual Writing Award. Most recently, he was honored by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin as one of its "40 under 40 Attorneys To Watch" in 2005.He has guest blogged here three times before (Shawn Wood 3, Shawn Wood 2, Shawn Wood 1), and they were all so well received, I asked him to do it one more time.
The following piece is his column from the October issue of "Chicago Lawyer." He's graciously allowing me to reprint it here.
DAZED AND CONFUSED IN COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
By Shawn Wood
The plaintiff's name is Robert Plants.
Despite the name similarity, he was never the lead singer of Led Zeppelin.
But he is hoping a Cook County jury shows him a Whole Lotta Love.
Mr. Plants recently filed a slip and fall case in the Circuit Court of Cook County. But this ain't your grandpa’s slip and fall case.
This was no slip on in icy parking lot or the broken jar of Ragu in Aisle 10 of your local Super Mercado.
Mr. Plants slipped and fell... in a porn shop. More specifically, he claims he fell at the back exit of the Adult Fantasy bookstore. He complains, among other things, that the stairs were not properly lit.
I'm no expert on structural design, but I do have a sense for why the back exit of this type of establishment might not be brightly illuminated. In fact, I'm chancing a guess that's why most patrons would be ducking out that back exit in the first place.
I do like picturing the smile on the face of the lawyer engaged to defend this case.
Imagine you're part of the beleaguered breed of defense lawyers who handle slip and fall cases (or as the marketing folks would prefer, “premises liability” cases) on a regular basis. While your colleagues are knee-deep in large dollar med mal cases, your dance card is filled with claims brought by folks who have trouble walking and chewing gum.
Then this case comes along. Too many affirmative defenses flood your brain. Contributory negligence from walking while distracted. Assumption of the risk of using that back exit. Unclean hands. Who wouldn’t want to give that closing argument?
By contrast, any plaintiff’s lawyer in this type of case would face a tough sell. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client was minding his own business, innocently shopping for porn, when ‘BAM,’ he fell on a poorly lit stairwell at the back exit of an adult bookstore. If we don’t send a strong message to this defendant, what’s next? Strip clubs, brothels, all with improper lighting. We all might as well hang up our trenchcoats right now. Nowhere is safe.”
All kidding aside, I suppose if litigation addresses an injury or safety issue -- wherever it may happen—that’s never a bad thing.
And if it leads to remedial measures to the back stairway of the Adult Fantasies bookstore, all the better.
Maybe they’ll eveb rename the newly improved establishment. I’d suggest calling it, “Stairway to Heaven.”
