Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall

A woman who slipped and fell on fish guts outside of Citarella on the Upper West Side more than a decade ago was just awarded $6.45 million by a Manhattan jury, as first reported by the New York Post.

The plaintiff, who is known only by her last name Castillo, was walking by the food emporium at 2135 Broadway, near the corner of West 75th Street, on Labor Day weekend in 2014, when she slipped and fell on a pile of fish guts.

She dislocated her knee and ruptured three ligaments in the tumble, which has led to at least 12 surgeries in the past 11 years, according to court documents and the New York Post.

Castillo, who was 53 at the time of the fall, was an avid salsa dancer before the accident, but has not been able to dance in the years since due to ongoing complications. She told the Post that she didn’t initially plan to pursue legal action, but Citarella would not hand over an accident report for her medical insurer unless she had a lawyer.

Last week, she was awarded $6.45 million.

“This Manhattan jury listened to all the evidence, and they spoke through their verdict that it is not OK for a grocery store to take over a sidewalk for their business and profits and not protect pedestrians in doing so,” attorney Sharon Scanlan of Jacoby & Meyers, who represented Castillo, told the Post.

Citarella did not immediately respond to the publication’s request for comment.

You can read more — HERE.