Hose-Entanglement Case Filed in Louisiana

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Another interesting case has been filed in Louisiana, according to this all-too-brief Courthouse News summary (thanks, Andy):

Twyla M_____ v. Century Surety Company; Rushabh Inc. dba Rush Express, 6/20/2014, 2014-12824 G (St. Tammany Parish District Court, Covington)

Negligence action. While plaintiff was filling her car with gas from defendants' gas station, she became entangled in the fuel dispensing hose and fell.

Oh dear. Can one sue for tripping over something if one was actually holding one end of said thing in one's hand at the time of the trippage? Well, one can sue for anything, but it seems unlikely that one would prevail. One doesn't know all the facts here, of course. Or, one does, but I don't.

On the other hand (so to speak), Louisiana applies pure comparative fault, meaning that even if the plaintiff were found 99% responsible for this injury, she would theoretically still receive 1% of her damages. In some states you can't recover at all if you are found more than 50% responsible, but that's not the rule in Louisiana. So perhaps when the facts are all in, the result may not match my speculation.

Perhaps this is the first of a wave of hose-entanglement cases, in fact. Only time will tell.