Who's at Fault for Slip-and-Fall Personal Injury Lawsuits?

I proofread personal injury lawsuit cases. Often, these involve slip-and-fall cases. I might also add that every slip-and-fall case that I've ever read, involved a woman. Does this mean that women fall, and men don't? Or does it mean that both fall equally, but women like to blame someone else for the mishap? You be the judge on that one.

For now, let's wonder about just who's to blame when a person falls. If there are no "caution" signs set up on a lobby floor, and the floor has just been mopped, and especially if the floor does NOT look like it's just been mopped, and especially if there's no evidence it's just been mopped, such as a person nearby mopping, or a nearby bucket of sudsy water -- and someone starts walking across this floor and falls ... and only then realizes it's been freshly mopped or waxed or whatever, then it is the business's fault for not making sure their employees set out the "caution" signs or orange cones.

But the cases I read typically involve the following scenario: A woman is inside a store, shopping. Maybe it's a grocery store, and she's walking down the aisle. Next thing she knows, her feet come out from under her and she falls flat on her side. She screams for help. There are no witnesses. An employee rushes to her side to help her up. She's able to walk out of the store, and refuses an ambulance, even though the store manager offers to call one. Next thing the store knows, it's being sued; the woman claims unresolved back pain.

How did the woman fall? In every one of these cases, she tells the defendant's attorney that she never saw anything unusual on the floor before she fell. It was only after she fell, that she noticed something "wet" on the floor. Sometimes, this "wet spot" is described as being only two inches by one inch in dimension. Sometimes the "spot" is described as being of a soapy consistency, and it's speculated that it's a tiny spill from some dishwashing or laundry soap on the shelf in the store. Sometimes, the spot is speculated to be some drops from a beverage.

How is the store at fault for this? The only way a store could ensure that no spots are stepped on, is to hire "guards" to stand in every single aisle. These guards then keep an eye on merchandise, to make sure that when customers handle it, it doesn't accidentally leak or spill fluid on the floor. And if it does, the guard must then immediately clean it up. That's one guard for every single aisle. Some aisles are very long, like in Wal Mart, so maybe there would be two or three "spot guards" per aisle.

These guards would also watch every person who was sipping a beverage, especially kids. Every time someone spilled a few drops, the guard would rush over and wipe it up.

Is this realistic? How the heck is a store going to know that in aisle 19, a few drops of cranberry juice have made their way to the floor? Is there a "wet spot patrol" ? Does an alarm go off every time something wet drops on the floor? If you own a store and are dealing with a customer, how can you know that, right at that moment, a wet spot has developed in the laundry detergent aisle from a leaking jug? Who's going to report it?

These lawsuits are ridiculous, and it's a shame that they even exist. However, I shouldn't complain, because I've made good money proofreading the transcripts.