Beware the Lettuce

An interesting salad bar slip-and-fall case argued in Connecticut recently.  The court is considering whether to abandon the requirement of actual knowledge in such cases.

The case in point revolves around a piece of lettuce, said to be the cause of dental hygienist Maureen Kelly’s nasty fall while pivoting to get a lid for her salad tin at a Fairfield Stop & Shop salad bar on Nov. 2, 1999.

Kelly landed hard on her left shoulder, tearing her rotator cuff, and now suffers chronic pain. The attorney for Stop & Shop countered Tuesday that there was no firm evidence that the piece of lettuce apparent on the side of Kelly’s shoe even caused the fall.