HUNTINGTON – A couple is suing Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9738 after they claim they were injured when slipping on the dance floor.
John Doe Entity, which is doing business as VFW 9738 Guyandotte; and John Doe employer were also named as defendants in the suit.
On May 1, 2015, Shirley Chapman and Samuel Chapman were lawfully on the premises of the defendants’ property and were dancing on the dance floor, according to a complaint filed April 20 in Cabell Circuit Court.
The Chapmans claim the defendant knew or should have known that customers frequently put graphite and/or baby powder on their shoes and/or the floor to make the floor more slippery for “better dancing.”
The defendant also knew or should have known that the lighting was very low and created an unreasonable risk of injury and the dance floor was unreasonably slippery, which caused Shirley Chapman to fall and sustain injuries, according to the suit.
The Chapmans claim there was room temperature liquid on the floor in the area that they were dancing that was extremely difficult to see and, when Shirley Chapman attempted to get up, the area was so slick that she had to crawl several feet to a less slick area to get up from the ground.
The defendants had duties to exercise reasonable care to protect the plaintiffs from injury on its premises, including a duty to make reasonable inspections to the dance floor to discover hazardous conditions and a duty to promptly discover and clean spilled liquid, according to the suit.
The Chapmans claim the defendants breached their duties and caused Shirley Chapman’s injuries.
The Chapmans are seeking compensatory damages. They are being represented by W. Stephen Flesher of the Law Offices of Stephen Flesher; and Matthew P. Stapleton of Stapleton Law Offices.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Paul Farrell.
Cabell Circuit Court case number: 17-C-260
