Superior Court Confirms That, At Times, Plaintiff Can Prove Obvious Injuries Without Medical Expert

In a decision marked as "Non-Precedential" in the case of Kent v. Williams, No. 1855 EDA 2023 (Pa. Super. Feb. 13, 2024 Murray, J., Lazarus, J., and Stevens, P.J.E.) (Op. by Murray, J.), the Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed the entry of a nonsuit by a trial court in a fall down case.

According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff fell while on a ladder.  The Plaintiff sued the Defendant for not properly securing the ladder and/or providing a defective ladder.    

In this case, the Superior Court noted that a compulsory nonsuit cannot be entered prior to trial but can be treated as an entry of summary judgment by the trial court on appeal.

The appellate court additionally ruled in this case that a medical expert is not necessary to testify as to those types of injuries that may fall within the common experience and understanding of lay people on a jury, such as certain injuries that may result from a fall-down event where, as here, the Plaintiff fell 15 feet down from a ladder and landed on the surface below and allegedly sustained immediate injuries.

The court otherwise ruled that a personal injury Plaintiff is competent to testify as to his or her pain and suffering.

The appellate court additionally found that the trial court had erred in excluding the Plaintiff’s medical records entirely as hearsay. The Superior Court noted that, while some medical records or portions of records may indeed be hearsay, other portions may contain statements made for medical diagnosis which would fall under an exception to the hearsay rule. The trial court was ordered to consider each medical record individually on remand.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this non-precedential decision may click this LINK.


I send thanks to Attorney James M. Beck of the Philadelphia office of the Reed Smith law firm for bringing this case to my attention.

Source of image:  Photo by Raphael Brasileiro on www.pexels.com.

Issues of Fact Allow Strict Liability Case Involving Ladder to Proceed Forward

In the case of Kallok v. Wing Enterprises, Inc., No. 2:21-CV-00805-PLD (W.D. Pa. Sept. 19, 2023 Dodge, M.J.), a federal magistrate judge denied a Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment in a Plaintiff’s strict liability, negligence and breach of warranty action over a collapsed ladder.

The court found that the Plaintiff’s liability expert’s testimony was sufficiently reliable and created genuine issues of material fact as to whether or not the ladder was defective at the time of sale, whether the Defendant’s quality control procedures met the expected standard of care, and as to how the ladder was set up.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


Source: “Digest of Recent Opinions.” Pennsylvania Law Weekly (Oct. 5, 2023).

Summary Judgment Granted in Fall From Ladder Products Liability Case

In the case of White v. The Home Depot, Inc., No. 5:17-cv-4174 (E.D. Pa. May 10, 2018 Leeson, Jr., J.), the court granted Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment in Plaintiff’s action for strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranty due to the Plaintiff’s fall off of a ladder while painting his bathroom. 

According to the Opinion, the Defendants contended that the Plaintiff tried to move the ladder while still standing on it.   It was the Plaintiff’s contrary assertion that he did not feel the ladder move before he fell and that he did not know what happened.  

The court noted that the Plaintiff did not allege that there was any mechanically wrong with the ladder, its structure or its design.  

As part of these proceedings, the Defendants moved to exclude the testimony of the Plaintiff’s experts opining that the warnings on the ladder were inadequate.  The court found that this expert testimony was inadmissible because it did not satisfy the reliability and fit requirements.   According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff’s expert did not inspect the ladder or the bathroom floor, did not conduct any witness interviews, and did not reconstruct the accident or even perform any test on the ladder.  

Accordingly, the court held that the Plaintiffs’ claims failed because no reasonable jury could conclude that the ladder was defective.   To the contrary, the court stated that the Defendants did warn of the dangers of the ladder slipping on the surface below and that the Plaintiff knew or that warning.  As the Plaintiff never testified as to any additional warnings he felt that he needed with respect to the ladder and otherwise failed to explain while the general warning not to set the ladder on a loose or slippery surface was inadequate, the court entered summary judgment.  

To review this decision, click this LINK.