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MIAMI (CBSMiami/ NSF) — An appeals court on Friday overturned a judge’s ruling that a woman was partially at fault after slipping and falling at work while wearing high heels.
READ MORE: UM Researchers Detect COVID-19 Variants In South FloridaThe decision by the 5th District Court of Appeal came in a St. Johns County case that stemmed from injuries suffered by Jennifer Bongiorno, who fell on a slippery bathroom floor at an office building where she worked.
Bongiorno, who filed a lawsuit against the property owner, Americorp, Inc., was wearing 4- to 5-inch heels at the time of the accident.
READ MORE: 'I Am The Proof That God Exists,' South Florida Woman Beats Coronavirus 150 Days After Being Admitted To Local HospitalA circuit judge ruled that Americorp and Bongiorno were each 50 percent negligent for the injuries, with the company pointing in part to evidence that a co-worker was able to avoid falling on the bathroom floor because she was wearing “safer footwear,” according to Friday’s decision.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court, however, rejected the circuit judge’s conclusion and sent the case back with instructions for a judgment in favor of Bongiorno.
“Americorp failed to sustain its burden of proving that Bongiorno created a foreseeable zone of risk by wearing high-heeled shoes to work and, therefore, the trial court erred in finding her comparatively negligent for her injuries,” said the decision, written by appeals-court Judge William Palmer and joined by judges Thomas Sawaya and Wendy Berger.
MORE NEWS: 7 Face Narcotics, Human Trafficking Charges Following Miami Beach Search Warrants(The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.)