Man is awarded $2 million after being disabled in fall

A Honolulu man left permanently disabled after slipping on a wet floor at the Mai Tai Bar in Ala Moana Center has been awarded more than $2 million in damages.

Ernesto Verdugo was leaving the popular gathering spot, which is owned by the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., when he slipped on a tile floor slick with spilled drinks and landed hard on his left leg, according to Verdugo’s attorney Howard Glick­stein.

The trauma resulted in a serious blood clot and, later, a condition called post-thrombotic syndrome, a painful, lifelong condition in which impeded circulation causes chronic swelling in Verdugo’s left leg. The condition left Verdugo, a former tour guide and bodybuilder, unable to work.

Verdugo was 37 at the time of the incident in 2005. Glick­stein said his client, who was to have served as designated driver for his friends, consumed only one alcoholic beverage several hours earlier and was sober when he fell.

Glickstein said the bar’s managers were aware of chronically unsafe conditions in their establishment, particularly in the area near the wraparound table where Verdugo slipped, but did nothing about them.

In addition to inadequate staffing — there were about a half-dozen servers, and no bus help, attending to about 170 people that night — wet floors, a lack of a clear exit path and a lack of attention to fall hazards on the part of managers contributed to a dangerous situation, Glick­stein said.

"Nothing has changed," he said. "They’re still operating the same way, with no regard for the safety of their customers."

After two days of deliberation, the jury awarded Verdugo $2 million in general damages and $144,000 in special damages.