Brooklyn judge allows slip-and-fall case against Target to proceed
In a ruling published last week, a Brooklyn federal judge allowed a negligence case against the store Target to move forward. Eastern District Judge William F. Kuntz held that the case presented “a genuine issue of material fact” as to the store’s negligence and was one that should be determined by a Brooklyn jury.
In September 2013, the plaintiff, Anne Chong, slipped and fell on a liquid substance shortly after entering a Target in Queens. She filed suit against the corporation, alleging that the New York location breached its duty to keep the store reasonably safe and that this breach was the cause of Chong’s accident and subsequent injuries.
The first element in a successful personal injury case based on negligence is evidence that a duty of safety was breached. A store can breach that duty if, for example, its employees knew or should have known about the dangerous condition in the store that caused the plaintiff’s accident and related damages.