When Cathy Cruz Marrero fell into a mall fountain while texting, she decided to sue the mall. Tsk, tsk; How irresponsible!
Something similar happened to me six years ago, but with very different results.
My husband and I were in town to pay our taxes. I got out of the car, stepped over the curb and onto the concrete walkway the led to the sidewalk. I stepped on a manhole cover that was situated in the walkway. The moment I stepped on it, the cover flipped, causing my foot to go into the hole. My knee broke the fall as it slammed into the concrete. I have no idea how deep the hole was, nor how this happened.
I had to laugh though because I can only imagine how funny it looked. My husband helped me up. He looked pretty worried until he saw that I was laughing. Actually, it was a laughing/crying thing, since it really did hurt. He made me laugh more as he explained that he was talking to me when all of a sudden I disappeared from his view.
I was scraped, bruised, and bleeding a little, but my injury was obviously nothing serious. No bones were broken. When we got home I opted for a little Tylenol, an ice pack and assumed my favorite couch potato position with my leg elevated. I supposed I could have sued the city, though the thought really never crossed my mind.
One of the differences between my situation and that of Ms. Marrero is that I would have welcomed a video of the event. It would have been humorous to watch and would have explained just how this happened. Another difference is that I probably had a case since negligence cause my problem. She, on the other hand, caused her own injury by carelessness.
Truthfully, there are far too many cases like this these days. Everyone seems so bent on a 'get rich quick' scheme that they fail to take responsibility for their own actions.
It appears that Ms. Marrero is embarrassed by all the attention her 'fall' has received. Good. Maybe then she will realize that this boneheaded move was caused by her own actions. Perhaps next time she will take responsibility, if for no other reason than to avoid the embarrassment.
