William McDevitt (Partner-Philadelphia, PA) obtained a summary judgment dismissal from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The matter involved an employee of a medical waste removal company who claimed to have slipped on a substance in the parking lot of a dialysis clinic.

Plaintiff alleged that he fell on a puddle of "goop" while moving boxes onto a panel truck. He purports that he lost consciousness and sustained injuries to his lower back, neck and wrist. He later underwent surgical removal of a right wrist ganglion that his physicians attributed to the fall. He subsequently went on disability and eventually settled a workers' compensation claim for $75,000.

Plaintiff was unable to establish the source of the substance and could not show the dialysis clinic had notice that it was there. On summary judgment, opposing counsel unsuccessfully argued a) the clinic had a duty to provide additional lighting in the parking lot area and b) the clinic may be assumed to have had constructive knowledge of the hazard because leaves were found on the substance. The Court rejected these arguments and granted summary judgment motions filed by both the clinic and its landlord.