Foxwoods agrees to pay casino patron injured in fall $1.3 million
A former Springfield, Mass., dentist forced to retire after injuring his ankle in a 2016 fall at Foxwoods Resort Casino, has won a $1.3 million settlement in a Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court case, according to his attorney.
Casino surveillance footage was a major factor in the case’s outcome, said James Harrington, of the Waterford firm Polito & Harrington.
“It made a very good capture of the event,” said Harrington, whose client, Gary Goodman, slipped on “an accumulation of a liquid substance” while walking on the casino’s Grand Pequot concourse near Dunkin’ Donuts shortly before noon on June 28, 2016. Harrington said the footage showed the liquid, probably water, had been dropped by a casino patron and had been ignored by multiple employees who failed to clean it up.
The spill had been sitting on the floor for some 20 minutes when Goodman slipped on it, Harrington said.
Due to the casino’s “negligence and carelessness,” Goodman fractured his lower left leg, tore tendons and dislocated his left ankle, which was permanently impaired, his lawsuit against Foxwoods says.
Edward Gasser, the Avon attorney who represented the casino, said the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, the casino's owner, does not comment on pending or concluded litigation.
The $1,325,000 settlement in the case is among the higher settlements the tribal court has awarded in personal-injury cases of its kind, Harrington said. Most such cases are settled for far less because tribal law imposes a 200% cap on awards for actual damages.
Goodman’s claim for actual damages — medical expenses and lost wages — came to about $600,000, Harrington said.
“He (Goodman) couldn’t have recovered substantially more than the settlement amount because of the caps,” Harrington said. “In state court, it would have been a whole different story.”
Goodman was 56 at the time and was forced to retire.
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