Edison Man Awarded $2 Million For Slipping On Ice In Woodbridge

EDISON, NJ — A jury awarded an Edison man $2 million after he slipped and fell on ice while shopping Feb. 7, 2014 at The Plaza at Woodbridge. That's the Rt. 1 shopping complex that holds the Best Buy, Babies 'R Us and the long-closed Cheeseburger in Paradise.

The man, George Adams, 51, said he was shopping there for a Valentine's Day gift for his wife. On that chilly February day, he slipped on a pedestrian walkway that was covered in run-off water from a nearby 15-foot pile of snow.

The water run-off created a sheet of ice that Adams' lawyer, Nicholas J. Leonardis, described as "a skating rink," according to NJ.com. "This was a recipe for disaster," the attorney said.

According to Adams' lawyer, a contractor working in the area had previously warned the owner about the icy conditions and asked them to move the snow pile, but property owners, A&R Woodbridge, declined because it would lose them parking spaces. A&R Woodbridge owns seven shopping plazas in New Jersey.

Adams was taken to JFK Medical Center in Edison and he ended up needing spine and neck surgery from the fall. Lawyers for A&R Woodbridge argued that the injuries stemmed from two previous car crashes.

However, last week a jury ruled in the man's favor and held A&R Woodbridge liable in the case, NJ.com reported.