Lawsuit for Death As a Result of Slip and Fall Accident In the Shower

In Kellman v. Twin Orchard Country Club, 202 Ill. App. 3d 968, 560 N.E.2d 888, 148 Ill. Dec. 291 (1990), plaintiff filed suit against the defendant country club for the death of her husband who was found on the floor of a shower stall. Plaintiff alleged that the country club was negligent in the design, construction, and maintenance of the shower stall. The decedent was seen to be slightly wobbling as he entered a shower stall. While in another shower stall, decedent's friend heard two thuds. He looked through the door and saw the decedent lying on the floor. Kellman, 202 Ill. App. 3d at 970-71. Plaintiff submitted affidavits of medical experts to establish that plaintiff died as a result of falling on the shower floor. Additionally, an engineer testified that he inspected the shower facilities and opined that the shower stall in which decedent had fallen was unreasonably dangerous because it was unreasonably slippery and a number of grab bars and grips in the shower stalls were inadequate. Kellman, 202 Ill. App. 3d at 972. Defendant moved for summary judgment asserting that plaintiff could not establish proximate cause as a matter of law. Despite the affidavits from plaintiff's expert and decedent's physicians, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant and the plaintiff appealed. In affirming the lower court's judgment in favor of the defendant, the court held that there was nothing found in the record from which it can be inferred that any alleged act or omission on the part of defendant was the proximate cause of decedent's injuries. The court stated that "the possibility that the alleged unreasonably dangerous shower stall and basin had caused decedent to slip and fall is insufficient to establish a causal connection between defendant's alleged negligence and decedent's injuries." Kellman, 202 Ill. App. 3d at 975.