Mich. woman can sue over toilet paper dispenser

Wapo ^ | 12/06/10 | Ed White

[freespirited]

The Michigan Supreme Court has refused to throw out Sheri Schooley's lawsuit against Texas Roadhouse in suburban Detroit. Liberal justices were in the majority in a decision that raises questions about what businesses need to do to protect themselves from liability in strange situations.

Schooley, 58, acknowledged it's a "bizarre story." She and her husband were out for dinner on New Year's Eve 2007 when she visited the restroom.

"I reached and the cover of the toilet paper dispenser fell down on my hand," the South Rockwood woman told The Associated Press on Monday. "It looked like the dispenser was up but it wasn't latched...."

But the pain didn't fade, she said, and her husband had to cut her steak. When Schooley returned to work, she couldn't use a stapler. Diagnosis: broken bone....

Three years later, "I still cannot use the hand. I have no grip," said Schooley, who had to quit her job as an administrative assistant because she couldn't type.

A Wayne County judge and the state appeals court have refused the restaurant's request to dismiss the lawsuit. The Supreme Court has twice followed the lower courts, most recently in an order released Saturday.

There is no evidence that restaurant employees inspected "toilet paper dispensers to see if they were closed," Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly wrote...

The court's three conservative justices said the liberal majority was overreaching. In a biting dissent, Justice Stephen Markman noted that the restroom was checked for wet floors and other obvious problems every 15 to 30 minutes.

Texas Roadhouse "apparently also had a legal duty to inspect for hazards that could not reasonably have been anticipated, such as a toilet paper dispenser opening unexpectedly," Markman wrote sarcastically....

[ApplegateRanch]

Something doesn’t pass the smell test.

Are you implying that the rest room's air deodorizer also was faulty? ;-)

[ReverendJames]

After I posted that I went back to re-read it and yeah, guess she could sue for a smelly b’room. BTW, I’m wondering if she may have hurt her hand someplace else and thought it a great idea to blame the dispenser. After all aren’t there SUV’s that go nuts?

[ReverendJames]

Basically what I was getting at is here’s this tp dispenser on the wall and it’s attached so precariously that just the attempt to pull some tp out of it, it falls and somehow breaks the woman’s hand so badly she has to switch hands in order to bowl and lowers her score. Sad.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

That thing weighed, what - 8 ounces? Horse pucky.

[bigheadfred]

I know about stupid injuries. I was trying to drive an overloaded wheelbarrow up a ramp and out of a greenhouse and wiped out. Popped my shoulder out when I stiff-armed the concrete floor to avoid the face plant.

Of course I sued everything in sight and am now a gazillionaire.

Well, maybe that last part stretches it a little.

Actually I went to the boss and he got the shoulder popped back in the socket. Then he said it was no use going to the doctor and it would hurt for weeks and to get back to work. I said, gee, thanks dad...

[NightOfTheLivingDems]

I hope this case goes up to the US Supremes, where Obummer’s appointees know much about precedent wiping.

[ApplegateRanch]

Imagine you were in a restroom and put your hand under the dryer (all you jokers here) and the dryer just fell off and amputated your foot?

The difference in height fallen, and weight of a hand dryer vs a TP dispenser aside, NOTHING "fell off"; a COVER (allegedly) swung open.

Those are the ones I could find that hinge at the bottom, rather than the side or top, although most are metal rather than plastic.

It is hard to believe that the injury was so severe, AND that this was the cause of it rather than something else in the time intervening between the described accident and the filing for damages.

Also, one has to wonder, assuming all is as stated, AND the lawsuit is successful, just how much culpability the manufacturer/importer/installer of the particular dispenser has.

MARKMAN, J. (dissenting).
...Plaintiff was a patron of a Texas Roadhouse restaurant owned and operated by defendant, where she alleges that, while she was using the restroom, a plastic toilet-paper dispenser fell open onto her, causing a broken hand. After the incident, she returned to her table and finished her dinner, and subsequently returned to the restaurant on several occasions before filing suit nearly a year later. Her complaint alleges that defendant [*4] was negligent in failing to maintain the premises in a manner fit for intended use; failing to warn plaintiff of the danger posed by the defective dispenser; and failing to adequately inspect the premises for dangerous conditions... reference

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

"I reached and the cover of the toilet paper dispenser fell down on my hand," the South Rockwood woman told The Associated Press on Monday. "It looked like the dispenser was up but it wasn't latched...."

Very possible. Have had it happen a time or two myself.

But the pain didn't fade, she said, and her husband had to cut her steak. When Schooley returned to work, she couldn't use a stapler. Diagnosis: broken bone....

Maybe. Not likely but maybe.

Three years later, "I still cannot use the hand. I have no grip," said Schooley, who had to quit her job as an administrative assistant because she couldn't type.

And now comes the nonsense. If she still can not use the hand then her doctor either did something very wrong or she has a underlying condition that is preventing the bone from healing properly. Either way, not the restaurant's fault.

Conclusion: Her meal gets comped and they pay for her first doctor visit and what ever was first recommended to repair the damage.

Nothing else.

[bigheadfred]

I know about stupid injuries. We were putting a new self-unloading truck bed on one of the ten wheelers. Had it up on 4 55 gallon drums with blocks. Backed the truck under it and was setting it down slowly with 2 handyman jacks up on the barrels. Working the jacks in tandem. We’d do a few inches on the back then move to the front. Anyways, the boss and another guy were on one side, me on the other. They told me to stop jacking so I did. Decided I needed another piece of 2x6 that was laying on the ground. I only took my eyes off that jack for the sec it took to actually look the block into my hand when they went one more click. My jack slammed out and the handle bashed me in the back of the head at the instant I took my eyes off it. Face planted in the dirt. I staggered up and put my hand to the back of my head. There is a 3” long gaping wound there and I think. “That just crushed your skull”. The other two came around and the boss just shook his head. I climbed in the back of the pickup and the other guy drove us over to the office so he could get me a towel. This thing is bleeding something fierce. I get out of the back and I’m leaning on the front of the truck. This guy who was doing some trenchwork for us with his backhoe stopped on the road and asked where the boss was. I said out back and turned a bit to point and this gut SCREAMS “MY GOD!!YOU’RE BLEEDING!!!”. By then the back of my shirt was pretty well soaked. The other guy comes out of the office and we get my head sorta turbanized and we head for the hospital. They clean the wound a bit and the doc gets this dental pick looking thing and starts SCRAPING it on MY SKULL. I said “Are you scraping that thing on MY SKULL??? He said I gotta clean this up. Weirdest damn thing ever. Talk about trauma. I still ain’t got over that yet. Steel scraping on the skull. AAAAIIIEEEE!!!

Of course I sued everything in sight and am now a gazillionaire.

Well, maybe that last part stretches it a little.

We get back to work and the boss says “I see you’re all right. Get back to work.” I said gee, thanks dad...

[ApplegateRanch]

I’m wondering if she may have hurt her hand someplace else and thought it a great idea to blame the dispenser.

I wondered the same thing. She went right back to eating. She went back to the restaurant several times. She waited nearly a year, before filing for damages. Lots of space in there for something to break a bone, other than a plastic lid popping open.

Also, take a look at my #24 above. The linked case's judges' opinions make some interesting reading.

[facedown]

Did it ever occur to any of you that maybe the lady was injured and thought the pain would go away but then it didn’t and she later realized she had a serious problem.

Not for a New York second.

[ApplegateRanch]

“I see you’re all right. Get back to work.” I said gee, thanks dad...

You are so lucky you were working for your dad. Dads are very compassionate and caring and supportive.

Most of my weird accidents have occurred when I was working for one of my older brothers; or most merciless of all, on a honey-do job.

[bigheadfred]

Actually, we were working for a corporation owned farm. And he was compassionate all right./s

Farm work can be kinda dangerous. The most bizarre thing that happened was up at the main office/warehouse. They were taking 10 wheeler loads of spuds down to the sorting shed for shipping down to SoCal. The secretary was running the scale house. Her husband was driving one of the trucks. They would pull on the scale and then back off cause it was easier to go left around to the unloading bays than to go forward and maneuver the corner. Anyways, the big boss (not my dad) said Gene came into the office and told him he had run over Lila (his wife) and that she was dead. Apparently he had pulled onto the scale, got weighed, and backed off. She, for reasons unknown, somehow got herself behind the truck, got knocked down and he ran over her lengthwise with the four tires on that side and the front wheel. Hear tell it was a real mess. Backing off a scale with a 40,000 lb. truck is kind of a low speed operation. You can take it from there.

Heard tell Gene sued himself and is now a gazillionaire.

Got into the cabinetmaking after that. Much safer.
Everyone knows nothing can go wrong around high speed cutting equipment...

As far as this woman and her finger. I’m calling BS. Too much time between the “accident” and her deciding she was disabled for life. But that ain’t quite as bad as the BS that passes itself off as a judiciary.

[Paved Paradise]

This is why I hope to God I never have an injury that would require a jury. Too many “know-it-alls.”

[Paved Paradise]

Paragraphs are not your strong suit.

[Paved Paradise]

The bowling score comment was silly (and trivial). However, hand injuries are not. My hand surgeon said hands are the worst thing to injure. Meanwhile, because I do have a legitimate hand injury, I understand how easily a hand can be hurt and if it has to do with nerves (like mine) that does not present so readily.

I’m not saying people do not sue for fraudulent reasons, it’s just that I find so much unkindness on FR that it bums me out almost as much as the current POTUS and all the other crummy stuff that happens in our world.

The Bible says, “Be ye kind to one another.” So much for that.

[bigheadfred]

Paragraphs are not your strong suit.

But I did get up THREE times to get a fresh beer.

You wanna hear a real finger injury story?

[facedown]

This is why I hope to God I never have an injury that would require a jury. Too many “know-it-alls.”

This is why I hope to God you're never on a jury. Too many numb-nuts.

[21twelve]

I heard somewhere, and then looked it up on the net to confirm, that the tendons on the back of the hand are very close to the surface. ANY cut on the backs of the hands should be looked at by a doctor. (No, I don’t follow those instructions, but perhaps I should.)

But, it seems like it can happen where a cut on the back of a finger can nick a tendon, which in time can tear, and then it gets pulled apart and breaks like a rubber band. And then is hard to reattach.

[ReverendJames]

I don’t think the bowling mention was done out of malice. It was just brought up because the woman mentioned it. Since we really don’t know the full story (seems the incident happened a year ago and now just brought up) there could be some deceit in it, maybe, perhaps.