Barrow & Freeze-Crace Secure Voluntary Dismissal in Northern District Traumatic Brain Injury Case

James Barrow and Kendal Freeze-Crace recently secured a voluntary dismissal with prejudice on behalf of our client, a third-party maintenance provider, in a premises liability action pending in the Northern District of Illinois.

The plaintiff alleged that she sustained a traumatic brain injury while shopping at a nationwide department store when a mirror affixed to a column allegedly fell from its framing and struck her head. Our client had been brought into the case as a third-party defendant based on allegations that it had previously performed maintenance work involving mirrors at the store.

Discovery revealed critical deficiencies in the third-party plaintiff’s claims. Our client’s work order—performed approximately two months before the incident—was expressly limited in scope to reaffixing eight specific mirrors. Through deposition testimony and document discovery, it was established that those eight mirrors were not located in the area where the incident occurred. No witness testimony or documentary evidence could connect the mirror involved in the plaintiff’s accident to any work performed by our client.

After numerous depositions highlighting these evidentiary gaps and the absence of causation, the third-party plaintiff agreed to dismiss our client from the case with prejudice, eliminating any exposure.