The Defendants argued the main reason or the only reason that Plaintiff fell was the fact that he was intoxicated, due to admittedly drinking between six to eight beers while hanging out with his cousin. They further argued that no water could have possibly come out from the laundry room in question, because it was not operational. Finally, through their expert - biomechanical engineer - the defendants claimed that the fall couldn't have happened the way that plaintiff described it.
The trial lasted for five days. The juror's total deliberation time was about 6 hours. The jurors mentioned after trial that the most important evidence in the case from their perspective was the fact that the landlord had no documentation whatsoever of any cleaning or maintenance of the premises during the 9 years of owning the property. They also appreciated the fact that the plaintiff was somewhat stoic on the stand and also upfront and honest about drinking and about smoking marijuana illegally.
I believe this case is a lesson to both plaintiffs and landlords / owners of premises about how important the documentation regarding maintenance of the property, and especially sweeping logs, is in slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall cases. Here is a copy of this verdict for your reference.