Stamford Woman Slips on Ice, Sues Two Darien Businesses

A Stamford woman is suing two Post Road businesses in Darien, saying they’re among those at fault for a fall she took about one year ago.

Filed Feb. 22, the lawsuit brought by plaintiff Madonna McCarthy is seeking at least $15,000 from Trader Joe’s, Orvis sporting goods store and two other businesses with tie to the properties at 432 and 436 Boston Post Rd.

The $15,000 figure means it isn’t clear just how much money is at stake, just that it’s in the upper tier of these types of civil suits, which are broken down into those at less than $15,000 and those at more than $15,000.

McCarthy at about 9:30 a.m. on March 5, 2012, parked in the lot that Orvis and Trader Joe’s share, and “as she stepped out of her vehicle, she immediately slipped on ice and fell with great force onto the parking area, falling backwards onto her buttocks and then her left shoulder,” according to the suit.

Her lawyer, Matthew Maddox of Stamford-based Matthew Maddox LLC Law Offices, declined to comment beyond the complaint itself when reached by Patch.

Officials with Trader Joe’s and Orvis could not immediately be reached for comment. Two other entities named as defendants in the suit are Darien Joint Venture and Equity One LLC, which is described as the property owner.

Basically, the lawsuit says Orvis was negligent in allowing its parking area to be covered with a sheet of ice, which led directly to McCarthy’s fall.

It also says that “an employee or agent of Trader Joe’s had deposited water upon the premises parking area which had subsequently frozen, thus creating a defective and dangerous condition.”

The lawsuit describes as serious, painful and in some cases permanent the injuries McCarthy suffered, including:

• Lumbar disc herniation
• Acute lumbar radiculopathy
• Lumbosacral strain/sprain with stress reaction at L5
• Lumbar facet pain syndrome
• Lumbar spondylosis
• Left sacrolitis
• Central disc protrusions at L3/4 and L5/S1
• Myofascial pain syndrome
• Left shoulder pain
• Low back pain
• Right knee pain

No answer to the complaint has yet been recorded at state Superior Court in Stamford.