AliciaArol1
New member
- Feb 7, 2009
- 1
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...sprained my left foot? Could I win? On Friday, January 30, 2009 I was out drinking and having a good time listening to a couple of "cool" musicians play "oldies" type music at a local bar down the street. I consumed seven 12 oz beers in about 3 hours. When I got up to leave I was able to walk without assistance, but I was pretty intoxicated.
I followed my mother (who is visiting me here in Los Angeles) and my ex boyfriend's mother out the back exit of the bar. My mother's warning cry of "Watch your step" registered too late in my intoxicated brain. I tripped over a step down from the previously flat walkway, and I crumbled to the ground.
How I feel is that this bar should never allow its patrons to exit out the back when there is an unexpected step down (like a curb) just a few feet from the back doorway.
I could have easily stumbled and severely sprained my whole left foot (which is still swollen and bruised badly one week later) even had I simply been tired and unobservant (rather than drunk). My mother admits that if we had exited out the back when we had gone to this bar the previous Saturday, my mother might have been the one to fall and injure herself. (On that night she got way too loaded, but I was smart enough to hold on to her tightly, and we also exited out the front.) It was my bad luck that last Friday my ex boyfriend's mother decided to exit out the (unfamiliar to me) back which was closer to her car parked on the street.
This bar did not have any warning signs posted on its back door. I simply do not understand why the pavement drops down in a "curb like" step-why the place is designed that way-why it has never been fixed to be more safe? (When you are walking on a flat surface you expect that surface to remain flat?) There is not any reason for this bar to allow its patrons to exit out the back door when there is a perfectly good front door exit that leads to a perfectly flat walkway!
When I fell my mother and my ex boyfriend's mother both witnessed the entire incident. When I started screaming about how there should not have been a step there in the first place an employee of the bar came out to see what all the commotion was about?
I got up and limped to the car (with my mom's help). When I got home I passed out and awakened (a few hours later) in complete agony. My foot was unbelievably bruised and swollen. I could not put any of my weight on the foot at all.
A Saturday morning trip to the hospital emergency room showed that I did not have any broken bones (which I had assumed to be the case since I had been able to get up and walk right after the accident). I had decided to go to the hospital because I feared the pain I was in, and I also thought that I might have done some other kind of serious damage to my foot (even if the foot were not broken).
I strongly feel that this bar should do one of three things:
#1 Fix it's back walkway (which would be expensive).
#2 Post (on the back door) a large warning sign to its patrons about the unexpected "step down". (Easy & cheap.)
#3 Simply do not ever allow any of its patrons to exit out the back. Keep the back door locked-except in case of emergencies (like other clubs do). (Easy & cheap.)
I firmly believe that (at the very least) this establishment should pay my huge hospital bill. Regardless if I were drunk, this establishment was still negligent. You simply do not allow people who have been drinking, and laughing, and dancing all night to exit through the back when the back of the bar is designed in an unsafe manner (unlike any other bar or nightclub that I have ever been to in my life).
I don't want to sue. I don't even know whether or not I could win my case, but I googled "foot sprain" on the Internet and discovered that I have the worst sprain imaginable (a grade 3) and also that my injury could take up to 2 months to heal! (I don't even want to think about the fact that my foot could be permanently damaged. I'm already not "dealing" with the recent demise of my 8 year, live in, love relationship.)
If I had merely tripped over only my own feet, I would not hold anybody but myself responsible for my injury. In this situation, I equally hold both myself and the owner of the bar responsible for my injury. I am responsible for getting too drunk. The bar is responsible for allowing anybody to exit out the back (or at least for not having strong warning signs posted for its patrons). (Don't people sue for things like this all the time?) I would bet that most (if not all) nightclubs and bars always have flat walkways outside their establishments because (surprise surprise) drunk people are frequently accident prone. (My ex's mother just informed me that the bar calls it's back area some kind of patio, but if this is true, it's a very small "patio" (that just looks like pavement that suddenly steps down). She also said that a faded paint job used to more clearly indicate that a step was coming. (These
FYI: I could have tripped over the step, fallen, and split my head open (which would have been a lot worse than a sprained foot). I could have also damaged my back more. I already have a bulging disk that caused me excruciating agony this past summer (until the pain "mysteriously" disappeared). Please tell me that the owner of this bar (who certainly has insurance) has to accept a least some responsibility for this "freak accident" that happened to me?
I don't want to sue, but I have no money, I can't work, I can't start beauty school like I had intended to do soon, and this accident should never have happened in the first place. (People get drunk and safely exit bars and clubs all the time-It's not like I did anything wrong!)
I followed my mother (who is visiting me here in Los Angeles) and my ex boyfriend's mother out the back exit of the bar. My mother's warning cry of "Watch your step" registered too late in my intoxicated brain. I tripped over a step down from the previously flat walkway, and I crumbled to the ground.
How I feel is that this bar should never allow its patrons to exit out the back when there is an unexpected step down (like a curb) just a few feet from the back doorway.
I could have easily stumbled and severely sprained my whole left foot (which is still swollen and bruised badly one week later) even had I simply been tired and unobservant (rather than drunk). My mother admits that if we had exited out the back when we had gone to this bar the previous Saturday, my mother might have been the one to fall and injure herself. (On that night she got way too loaded, but I was smart enough to hold on to her tightly, and we also exited out the front.) It was my bad luck that last Friday my ex boyfriend's mother decided to exit out the (unfamiliar to me) back which was closer to her car parked on the street.
This bar did not have any warning signs posted on its back door. I simply do not understand why the pavement drops down in a "curb like" step-why the place is designed that way-why it has never been fixed to be more safe? (When you are walking on a flat surface you expect that surface to remain flat?) There is not any reason for this bar to allow its patrons to exit out the back door when there is a perfectly good front door exit that leads to a perfectly flat walkway!
When I fell my mother and my ex boyfriend's mother both witnessed the entire incident. When I started screaming about how there should not have been a step there in the first place an employee of the bar came out to see what all the commotion was about?
I got up and limped to the car (with my mom's help). When I got home I passed out and awakened (a few hours later) in complete agony. My foot was unbelievably bruised and swollen. I could not put any of my weight on the foot at all.
A Saturday morning trip to the hospital emergency room showed that I did not have any broken bones (which I had assumed to be the case since I had been able to get up and walk right after the accident). I had decided to go to the hospital because I feared the pain I was in, and I also thought that I might have done some other kind of serious damage to my foot (even if the foot were not broken).
I strongly feel that this bar should do one of three things:
#1 Fix it's back walkway (which would be expensive).
#2 Post (on the back door) a large warning sign to its patrons about the unexpected "step down". (Easy & cheap.)
#3 Simply do not ever allow any of its patrons to exit out the back. Keep the back door locked-except in case of emergencies (like other clubs do). (Easy & cheap.)
I firmly believe that (at the very least) this establishment should pay my huge hospital bill. Regardless if I were drunk, this establishment was still negligent. You simply do not allow people who have been drinking, and laughing, and dancing all night to exit through the back when the back of the bar is designed in an unsafe manner (unlike any other bar or nightclub that I have ever been to in my life).
I don't want to sue. I don't even know whether or not I could win my case, but I googled "foot sprain" on the Internet and discovered that I have the worst sprain imaginable (a grade 3) and also that my injury could take up to 2 months to heal! (I don't even want to think about the fact that my foot could be permanently damaged. I'm already not "dealing" with the recent demise of my 8 year, live in, love relationship.)
If I had merely tripped over only my own feet, I would not hold anybody but myself responsible for my injury. In this situation, I equally hold both myself and the owner of the bar responsible for my injury. I am responsible for getting too drunk. The bar is responsible for allowing anybody to exit out the back (or at least for not having strong warning signs posted for its patrons). (Don't people sue for things like this all the time?) I would bet that most (if not all) nightclubs and bars always have flat walkways outside their establishments because (surprise surprise) drunk people are frequently accident prone. (My ex's mother just informed me that the bar calls it's back area some kind of patio, but if this is true, it's a very small "patio" (that just looks like pavement that suddenly steps down). She also said that a faded paint job used to more clearly indicate that a step was coming. (These
FYI: I could have tripped over the step, fallen, and split my head open (which would have been a lot worse than a sprained foot). I could have also damaged my back more. I already have a bulging disk that caused me excruciating agony this past summer (until the pain "mysteriously" disappeared). Please tell me that the owner of this bar (who certainly has insurance) has to accept a least some responsibility for this "freak accident" that happened to me?
I don't want to sue, but I have no money, I can't work, I can't start beauty school like I had intended to do soon, and this accident should never have happened in the first place. (People get drunk and safely exit bars and clubs all the time-It's not like I did anything wrong!)