A slip in fall inside an IHOP ladies' room has led Delores Sonnier to sue the popular pancake restaurant. Sonnier, who slipped in a puddle, claims the water on the floor "was not reasonably apparent to her" and the International House of Pancakes and its managers should have warned her of "the dangerous condition."
Sonnier's suit, filed in the Jefferson County District Court on Feb. 21, is reminiscent to a slip and fall suit filed against IHOP last November.
In November the Record reported David Vardaman sued IHOP after tripping over a "rolled up mat." A month following the suit, Judge Milton Shuffield, 136th District Court, handed Vardman and his wife a default judgment of $1,129, 857.08.
According to the current suit, on Jan. 15, 2007 Sonnier was dining at was a customer at the College Street IHOP "when she slipped and fell on a wet floor in the ladies' restroom sustaining serious personal injuries to her body and left knee."
Sonnier is also suing the IHOP's two managers, Syed Raza and Khalid Sharaf, claiming all the defendants in her suit failed to keep the restaurant in a reasonably safe condition.
"Plaintiff was owed the duty by defendants to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises in a reasonably safe condition, to inspect and to warn plaintiff of any dangerous conditions that defendants knew about or should have known about and which were not reasonably apparent to plaintiff," the suit said.
Sonnier is suing for past and future mental anguish, impairment and medical expenses.
She is demanding a trial by jury and is represented by Kenneth Lewis of the Bush Lewis law firm.
Judge Gary Sanderson, 60th District Court, has been assigned to the case.
Case No. B181-290