Sacramento Partner Peter Dye and Associate Karin Bruce obtained a summary judgment in a restaurant client’s slip-and-fall suit.

KNCH represented the owner of a restaurant in Los Angeles, where Plaintiff and her friend went for drinks and dancing.  After Plaintiff entered the restaurant and ordered a drink, she went to the restroom.  On the way to the restroom, Plaintiff slipped and fell on her left knee, fracturing the patella.  She thereafter filed suit against the restaurant owner, asserting negligence and premises liability and seeking general and special damages.  After a round of written discovery and deposing plaintiff and her friend, KNCH filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, asserting that plaintiff could not satisfy two essential elements of negligence and premises liability; breach and causation.  KNCH elicited testimony from plaintiff and her friend that neither of them actually saw a puddle of liquid and neither of them observed what caused her to fall.  Plaintiff conducted extensive discovery for her opposition, but ultimately failed to raise a triable issue of material fact.