Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Rhoda Dendrum went to visit her brother Phil O. Dendrum after he had surgery. He was an outpatient at the Russ Tafarian clinic (RTC). The RTC is located in Carlsbad, California. While she was there, Rhoda slipped on a foreign substance while entering a shower at the RTC. She was heading there to assist her brother with a rinse post surgery. Rhoda testified that she had used the RTC�s facilities on approximately 5 occasions prior to her fall and that on each occasion the showers had been slippery, filthy and dirty. Furthermore, she stated that she had slipped on some of these occasions due to these circumstances. She admitted that on the day of the accident she did not look down at the condition of the shower, the step or the floor. Rather, she simply took a step into the shower and fell.

The shower area was maintained by a company named Maintenance �R Us. They used a new cleaner in the shower area and left the place is an unfinished condition. There was soap in the area. MRU employees warned the front desk about the condition and told the front desk that they would be back to fix the situation in a little while. The fall happened while the area was in an incomplete condition. It had been in an incomplete condition for approximately 4 hours prior to the fall. At the time of Rhoda�s fall she was with her brother as well as Phil DeBasquet, a custodian.

Rhoda has contacted your offices and asked you for assistance. She has a severely torn medial meniscus as well as a disintegrated anterior cruciate ligament. She needs surgery and the costs will be approximately 4,500 for surgery, 2000 for anesthesia, 4500 for PT post surgery and miscellaneous expenses for meds and other issues of approximately 1000. She works in a plant shop called Lillies by Rose and earns approximately 3,500 per month.

You are attorney, Dewey Cheatum, from a notorious personal injury law firm in town. You have been asked to evaluate Rhoda�s case for her. She wants to know whether or not you will take this case on a contingency. Does she have a cause or causes of action? Please explain whom she can sue, the theories and why. Please explain the defenses, if any.

I anticipate that you will utilize a four-way cross over to explain all of the rights and responsibilities. However, please understand that the focus of this question really is as to the rights and liabilities of the parties. Specifically, does Rhoda have a claim or cause of action against the RTC? Against Maintenance? Against the person with her? If maintenance really was done by an employee and not an outsider would that change things? If so, how?

Remember that this is California and that there is a specific type of negligence law here. Please discuss the fact that she needs to have a cause of action and what goes into having a cause of action.

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