“Just how dimly lit should a restaurant be? Can it be so dark that it’s dangerous, and if someone is injured because of the low light level, the owners would be liable?” Visalia reader David asked.

“We were in an upscale, Mediterranean-style restaurant in Southern California. The four of us were led to our table, in a fairly large dining room with about 10 tables. On each was a single candle providing illumination. The room had overhead light fixtures, but they were not turned on. Most light came from the single candle, and a small amount from the parking lot outside.

“Once handed menus, we asked our waiter if it would be possible to turn on some lights, as it was too dark to read. He replied that keeping the lights off ‘saves energy, and management feels it is romantic this way.’ We noticed other patrons struggling to read with the candle, so two of us went to our cars and returned with flashlights. Then other patrons got flashlights from their cars. If facial expressions could kill, the faces of a couple of the waiters had our murder written all over.

“When our orders were brought to the table, we had to shine the flashlights to see what we were eating. It was ridiculous attempting to have an expensive dinner in the dark.”

Diabetes and bad bump into a table

“On my way out of the dining area going to the washroom, I was unable to see the leg of a nearby chair, caught my foot in it, and took a hard bump into the side of a table. Upon getting home that evening, it was clear that I had hurt myself to an extent where medical care was necessary, as I am diabetic.

“There will be several hundred dollars in medical bills. Do you think the restaurant is responsible for my injury?”

Dangerous to put ambiance before safety

Our answer to David’s question was simple: “Unless something you did – such as being intoxicated – caused the accident, then you bet they’re at fault.” But we still wanted to verify our legal opinion with an expert in the area of restaurant law. And so we asked a friend of this column, Professor Stephen Barth of the Conrad N. Hilton College of Restaurant Management at the University of Houston, for his insight.

Barth, author of “Hospitality Law” and co-author of “Restaurant Law Basics,” provided this analysis:

“One question leads you to the answer. Did the restaurant operator use reasonable care in the operation of the restaurant? Restaurants have a legal duty to be run in a prudent fashion and to exercise reasonable care for their patrons. That certainly includes lighting. A restaurant operator should never put ambiance and decor before safety.

“A restaurant should be lit sufficiently so that changes in flooring levels, in addition to where tables and chairs are located, are clearly visible. If the average person could not read the menu without a flashlight, then it is obviously not lit appropriately. Even more dangerous, think of the fire risk in tilting a candle so that the menu could be read,” he stressed.

Dark interiors an American thing

“I travel often internationally, and do not have trouble overseas with dimly lit restaurants like I have experienced here in the States. For some odd reason, many restaurateurs here seem to think that a dark interior is romantic and pleasing to the guests. But you do not find that elsewhere.

“Typically in the USA, it is the finer-dining ethnic restaurants – French, Italian or Middle Eastern – where management thinks that low levels of lighting enhance the dining experience. I have been in restaurants where servers had to be outfitted with flashlights to illuminate the menus so that the customers could read the menu!

“The fact that they have to do this is pretty conclusive that the patrons can’t read the menu which is in front of their face, much less be able to see the steps as they are walking to the restroom or the exits. It becomes a real issue in cases of emergency, or a fire, as lighting then is so critical,” he points out.

Too dim = Trip-and-fall injuries

“An insufficiently lit restaurant is going to have the danger of a greater number of trip and falls. You are going to have people running into tables, striking their heads on overhangs or edges that they would not otherwise do.”

We do not know if the restaurant our reader was hurt in serves fowl, but it seems pretty clear that their attitude towards lighting may have cooked their goose.

And just what should our Visalia reader do from this point out? What should anyone do who is injured by the apparent negligence of a property owner? The answers next time.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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“Jerry,” my 65 year-old father, is beating himself up over failing to get out of the stock market months ago when it was so high. He is obsessed with making money and now consumed with regret and guilt.

“He has always been impulsive, not wanting to miss out on a hot stock, and I am afraid now he is vulnerable to making a wrong decision to get back what he lost. Dad is becoming a stranger to the family.

“We have told him for years to work with a financial advisor, but he is a know-it-all. Do you know of anything he can read which might help him feel less angry with himself over his decisions and encourage working with a financial advisor? Thanks, ‘Liz.’”

I certainly do: The Power of Regret – How Looking Backward Moves us Forward by New York Times bestselling author Daniel Pink, published this year, and Your Total Wealth: The Heart and Soul of Financial Literacy, by Lyle Sussman and David A. Dubofsky, which came out in February of 2021.

When I Say “Regret,” What Comes to Mind?

Think about some of the things you’ve regretted, and how things today might have been different if what happened back then didn’t. Or, if instead of doing something, you held back.

Was it that person you so wanted to meet, something — a feeling — came over you that this just might be the one? But, you didn’t take that step forward, didn’t say, “Hi,” and moved on with your life, wondering, always wondering what might have been?

Pink made clear during our interview, an understanding of what we regret can open doors to a better, more secure tomorrow — especially in a confused financial world.

He describes four categories of regret that are universal — people all over the world have these same regrets that have special applicability to financial planning.

(1) Foundation Regrets

These are failures to be responsible, conscientious, prudent, and they leave you thinking, “If only I had done the work.” A lot of finance- and health-related regrets are in this category.

(2) Boldness Regrets: Inaction

These include opportunities not taken, such as applying to medical school, starting a business, “chasing” a true love, and leave us thinking, “If only I had taken that chance.”

(3) Moral Regrets

They leave you wondering, “If only I had done the right thing.”

(4) Connection Regrets

These regrets happen when we neglect the people who matter to us; “If only I had reached out.”

How Being Aware of our Regrets Helps us

Pink says, “Our regrets are a great source of information and part of who we are. They can be helpful when, for example, business leaders say to their teams, ‘Here is what I regret about where we are and what we need to discuss.’ This candor earns that person respect and positive change for the organization.”

Avoiding Financial Regret in the First Place

If, when Jerry was about 25 or 30, someone had given him a copy of Your Total Wealth: The Heart and Soul of Financial Literacy, and he had taken the authors’ advice to heart, I would not have this story to write.

But, of course, it only came out in early 2021.

A theme runs through the book that applies to so many people obsessed with seeing their portfolios go up in value. Sussman tells us, “It is a simple truth; you can minimize financial regret and guilt by understanding the cost of obsessively focusing on monetary wealth.”

Dubofsky adds, “If you are consumed by making money, and greed, you lose family, self-esteem, happiness. These things often become unintended consequences of acquiring financial wealth.”

Suffering from FOMO

Sussman sees Jerry as the poster child for FOMO.

“Liz describes her father as someone with an almost pathologic fear of missing out – that’s FOMO,” Susman says. “When the stock market was going up, acting on the tips he got combined with his own FOMO issues, he made money.

“Now, Jerry is at great risk for getting on the bandwagon of some stock that is hyped as helping investors recover their losses. He admits to suffering financial regret, which essentially is someone saying, ‘I should have done something with my money that I did not, and therefore, I am missing out on something I should have had.’

“He is in an extremely dangerous situation.”

How a Financial Adviser Can Help

“Financial advisers help us deal with uncertainty, and the best advisers are skilled with finance and psychology, helping their clients achieve financial stability. That’s what a good financial plan does,” Dubofsky points out.

“A growing group of advisers are in the ‘protection business’ and focus on clients who are vulnerable to being scammed. They build firewalls between a client’s portfolio and their poor investment decisions. The objective is to make sure that the portfolio isn’t going to be drained.”

A Prescription to Sleep Better

The authors suggest these steps for families to take during these financial times:

(1) If adult children are financially savvy, they need to be aware of what Mom and Dad are doing.

(2) Increase your due diligence. FOMO is very powerful and invites taking financial risks that will break your heart and your portfolio.

(3) Have a long-term perspective.

(4) Our country has survived a lot of bad calamities in its 200+ years of existence.

(5) Companies will always figure out how to make money.

(6) If you have a long term horizon before retirement – 20 years or more – don’t sell right now and even consider buying. But with a 5-year horizon, it could be more problematic.

These Two Books are Especially Relevant Today

Especially now, both of these books are relevant, practical and so helpful. Also, each is a great read!

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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Picture spending a few vacation days with friends at a Laughlin, Nevada, hotel you’ve been to often, when one person in your party is injured due to the negligence of the hotel. You’d expect the hotel staff to help out, get medical treatment, take care of medical bills and reach a fair settlement down the road for any lingering effects of the fall.

That’s what Lemoore reader Cynthia also thought should occur. But as Bakersfield-based personal injury attorney Matthew Faulkner knows only too well, “That rarely occurs as so often the hotel’s risk manager will play the nice, nice, delay, delay, and then the deny game, hoping that you become so frustrated, that you’ll drop the whole thing, or string you along until it is too late to file a lawsuit.”

“Additionally,’ Faulkner points out, “Slip or trip and fall cases typically have severe injuries — such as fractures — but establishing liability is often difficult. Just because you fell on someone’s property does not make them responsible. People do lose their balance or trip over their own feet and fall. If it is your fault, the property owner is not responsible.”

But what if the only way for you to have been injured was because of their negligence?

“This past summer I got hurt while staying at our favorite hotel in Las Vegas. It happened while getting out of the shower and stepping onto the dry bath mat. It slipped, I fell and jammed my foot against the toilet. This required surgery in Las Vegas on my ankle and spending four days in the hospital,” Cynthia’s letter began.

“Now, I have pins, screws, a metal plate in my ankle and my doctors tell me that due to the extensive nature of the injury I will have lifelong issues with swelling and pain. This was explained to the hotel risk manager who asked to be kept informed of my condition, which we did on several occasions.

“But the last time we spoke, instead of listening and reflecting a caring attitude, she had an and condescending tone of voice, claiming that hotel was not to blame, implying that it was my fault.”

So, what might have caused the bath mat to slip? Having stayed at this hotel frequently over several years, our Lemoore reader had a good idea.

“They had just completed a large renovation on our floor which included replacement of bathroom tiles. They were dark in color and had a glossy shine. All I did was to step out of the shower onto the bath mat which went sliding and I crashed onto the floor. As ventilation was poor, the bathroom was steamy from the shower. Something tells me the tiles in this bathroom were not the non-slip variety and that’s why I fell,” Cynthia surmises.

Her medical bills — fortunately paid by health insurance — are close to $150,000. In any suit or settlement against the hotel, what was paid by insurance would have to be reimbursed before any money would go to Cynthia personally.

A Case of Res Ipsa Loquitur

The only Latin term that every lawyer remembers from law school is Res Ipsa Loquitur, meaning, “The thing speaks for itself.” And “the thing” is negligence. So, if walking home at night on the sidewalk you fall into a sewer because the city worker forgot to replace a manhole cover, this is negligence as a matter of law and they are responsible for your injuries.

To attorney Faulkner, Cynthia has a Res Ipsa case, because, “The hotel had complete control of the bathroom where she fell. These new glossy tiles are highly suggestive of an unacceptable coefficient of friction. In a steamy bathroom, the tiles became slippery, leading to her injury. Based upon these facts, the hotel has real exposure to a substantial jury verdict.”

The Arrogant Risk Manager Might Just Have Helped Her

It is clear that Cynthia could very well have a case of significant value, and she could pursue it either with a Nevada lawyer, or by retaining a California attorney and filing suit in Federal Court. Faulkner points out that her likelihood of a positive outcome might have been made much more certain if the Risk Manager did something predictable and yet completely illegal:

“There is a duty to preserve evidence. Here, by re-doing the floor or making it less slippery without giving Cynthia or her lawyer an opportunity to have it tested, this could guarantee Cynthia a large verdict, in part because of what we call spoilation of evidence,” Faulkner concluded.

We’ll let you know how this case develops.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post What to do if you’ve suffered a personal injury appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

Some of the most often asked questions about legal responsibility concern slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall injuries on someone else’s property. If you or someone you know has recently been injured in one of these accidents, today’s story will be helpful.

We could be shopping at a supermarket, looking for some item, and the next moment find ourselves on the floor with a fractured leg. Yes, it happened on their property, but does this fact alone – where it occurred – make the owner or management of the market legally responsible for the injury and medical bills?

Most people answer, “Yes, of course, because it happened there.”

But that’s not the correct answer, and here’s why: Where a trip and fall or slip and fall occurs isn’t as important as why – what led to it? There has to be some element of fault – negligence – before you can hold the property owner responsible. And that’s only fair.

What if I am a klutz and simply trip over my own feet while trying on a pair of Dockers at Target, fall on the floor and break my arm? Regardless of the extent of my injury, Target will correctly maintain that they didn’t cause the injury. It’s one area where common sense and the law dovetail. That said, when lawyers explain this, they still often hear, “But it happened on their property.”

Claims adjusters and attorneys ask a series of questions with these types of cases and gather evidence to support their position of no liability. Anyone injured needs to find evidence proving fault. These are the questions which must be answered:

(1) Did the property owner/manager do something or fail to do something which led to the injury?

(2) How could they have prevented the injury?

(3) Did they know or should they have known of the dangerous condition – for example, water leaking from a drinking fountain, making the floor slippery?

(4) Either aware of the dangerous condition – or having created it – could management have done anything to make the place safer, or did they knowingly allow the danger to persist?

(5) Did the person who was injured contribute in some way, such as ignoring an obvious danger or by being intoxicated?

(6) Do we have the names of witnesses or employees who saw the event or who responded shortly thereafter?

Finally, were the premises so clearly dangerous that a fall or other injury was obviously going to happen, yet management actively prevented corrective steps from being taken, such as refusing to turn on the lights in a garage, staircase or restaurant?

You’ll really fall for our hummus

Last week we told you about the “fine dining experience” David and his friends from Visalia had at a Southern California “Mediterranean-style” restaurant.

As he put it, “The place was so dark, it was impossible to read the menu. Each table had one candle, which provided virtually all the illumination. We strained to read using that little candle, and finally just had to go to our cars and get flashlights.

“But we had no choice as our waiter refused to turn on any of the overhead lights, even though we asked him nicely. His smug reply was that, ‘Management believes it is more romantic this way, and besides, this saves us energy.’

“It was so dark, that when I got up to visit the washroom, I could not see the leg of a chair, caught my leg in it, and took a violent bump into the side of a table. As I am diabetic, this event required medical treatment.”

David asked if the restaurant would be responsible for his medical bills and any other damages.

What Dave must do

Steven Barth, professor of hospitality law at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Restaurant Management at the University of Houston, gave us his opinion and recommendations for anyone in David’s situation.

“Obviously, anyone who operates a restaurant where it is so dark a flashlight is needed in order to read the menu has put patrons in a dangerous situation. There is no excuse for this, especially when you think of what could happen in the event of a fire.

“It is critical to write things down in a diary of the event while it is still fresh in your mind. Witness statements would be helpful, if you can locate any, including restaurant employees.

“Keep track of medical expenses and send a letter to the restaurant, outlining what happened and asking for compensation. No doubt, a claims adjuster will be assigned to the case. Depending upon the severity of your injury or stonewalling of the insurance company, do not hesitate to seek the advice of an attorney.”

Sound advice indeed.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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