On December 8, 2017, the Law Office of Michael Neff obtained a confidential $5 million settlement for a client who had developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (“CRPS”) after falling at a metro Atlanta store.
The store had an outdoor sales area and had policies and procedures to make sure it was free of slip hazards. However, in the days and weeks leading up to the client’s fall, the store’s staff had chosen not to clean the floors, inspect them, or make sure they were dry. The store’s staff also chose not to use wet floor or hazard signs to let the customers know of the danger. Unfortunately for the customers, a slippery muck was hidden by the damp, concrete floors in the outdoor area.
On the day of the fall, an unsuspecting customer was shopping in the outdoor area with his girlfriend. He went down an aisle to view some merchandise and slipped on the muck. He landed hard on his right elbow and went to the doctor with what he thought was a bad bruise.
Unfortunately for the client, the bruise didn’t heal, and the pain didn’t stop. The client was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (“CRPS”).
CRPS causes pain signals to be sent back and forth from the brain even after the injury has healed. Thus, the affected body part continues to swell, and the pain often migrates to other parts of the body over time. The pain also increases in intensity with the passage of time. Currently, there is no cure for CRPS. Patients dealing with it are forced to take numerous narcotics and sometimes agree to experimental treatments such as spinal stimulators in an attempt to re-boot the body’s central nervous system and obtain relief from the pain.
The client was represented by Michael Neff, Dwayne Adams, Susan Cremer, and Shane Peagler from the Law Office of Michael Neff.