Governor's running mate involved in premises liability suit

 Posted on December 00,0000 in Premises Liability

Slip and fall injuries generally fall under the umbrella of premises liability cases because the accident usually happens on another person&s property. But an injured party cannot recover damages just because an accident occurred on someone else&s property. Recovery is only a possibility when the responsible party or property owner acted negligently to cause the accident. Recovery would not be available if the accident was the result of the injured party&s own carelessness or negligence.

In order to prove responsibility, a plaintiff in Illinois must show that the property owner was aware of the dangerous condition. There are a few ways to show awareness, including that the property owner created the dangerous condition; that the property knew about the condition and failed to fix it; or that the dangerous condition was in place for such a period of time that the property owner should have known about it and fixed it.

A woman who is now the running mate for Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner filed a lawsuit against government agencies after a slip and fall incident in Wheaton, Illinois, back in 2007. Evelyn Sanguinetti sued six government agencies including the city of Wheaton, DuPage County, Union Pacific Railroad, METRA and others after she fell on ice at a local train station.

The premises liability lawsuit asked for $100,000 in damages. The suit claimed that the defendants allowed the pedestrian sidewalk to accumulate snow, water and ice creating a dangerous condition. Sanquinetti stated that pedestrians frequented the sidewalk and the defendant did know, or should have known, about the dangerous ice on the sidewalk. Although the lawsuit may be sued as fodder during the upcoming gubernatorial campaign, icy conditions and slip and fall accidents go hand in hand and accident victims are allowed to bring a lawsuit and recover damages through proof of the requisite negligence.

Source: NBC Chicago, "Sanguinetti Went After Government Agencies for 2007 Slip and Fall," Mark W. Anderson