Lighting in Parking Lot Contributes to Serious Injury

This case involves an injury sustained by an elderly woman in a supermarket parking lot. The plaintiff, a seventy-two-year-old female, was traveling to the supermarket with her son at 11:45 pm. There was a large pothole in the parking lot with a warning sign, but because of the low level of lighting, neither the sign nor the pothole was visible from the parking spot. As the elderly woman stepped out of her son’s vehicle, she stepped into the pothole, falling over. She sustained a broken hip, three cracked ribs, and a concussion.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Should there have been adequate lighting in the supermarket parking lot?

2. Is more prevalent signage required to warn patrons of a known risk/dangerous element in a parking lot?

Expert Witness Response E-006040

I am a certified property manager dealing with issues involving the management of commercial and residential real estate matters. One issue I see right away is "bad" lighting. I would need to know exactly what that means with greater specificity. I need to know if the lighting that was in place at the time of the incident was fully operational and up to code as well.