I am not sure if you saw it or not, but former Heisman Trophy winner for USC and current NFL SanFrancisco 49er football player Reggie Bush was injured in a game recently at St. Louis Ram’s football stadium. However, he was not injured in the traditional way on the football field. He was injured, in fact, when he slipped and fell on a concrete slab, near or behind the team’s side of the field. Reggie suffered serious injuries and will undoubtedly need to have surgery for the injury to his knee.
In addition to all of the above problems he faces, it is possible that this injury he received from the slip and fall will end his NFL career.
Well, Reggie, welcome to my world. This is a traditional slip and fall case just like thousands of other cases. Since he already filed a lawsuit on this, let’s discuss whether it is realistic to think he will get a recovery. The short answer is maybe he will. However, there are some significant legal hurdles he is going to have to jump over in order to get a recovery.
As Pittsburgh wrongful death, auto accident and slip and fall attorney Bernie Tully has mentioned in prior blogs, there are 2 parts to a lawsuit. First, you have to sustain injuries. Clearly we have that half of the equation here. Reggie suffered possible career ending injuries from the fall. Can you imagine how much that would be if he were to play for a couple more years? Had it not been for the injuries, he might have received $5-10 million a year just for playing football. That is all an item of damage in a slip and fall case. So he gets a big star on that part of it and he is golden regarding the injury aspect of the case.
HOWEVER, there is a real question about the other half of this case. The other half is, of course, he must prove that the stadium or the St. Louis Rams football organization somehow caused his accident and injury. This is going to be where the case is won or lost. Of course, the defendants, the Stadium Authority and the St. Louis football team are going to take the position that his injuries were caused by his own carelessness. What caused him to fall? Was there something on the surface of the cement that caused him to fall? Apparently, it was just that the cement was in a state of disrepair. That’s probably not going to be enough to prove that the defendants were legally responsible.
I will tell you more about this high profile case in tomorrow’s blog.
Thanks for reading.
Bernie the attorney