A slip-and-fall case against a Portland grocery store settled in the middle of trial on October 12, 2026. It started with water coming through the ceiling. If you own or manage a shop, an office or a multiplex, here's what I take from it, as a roofer, not a lawyer.
In October 2023, a 71-year-old shopper slipped on water dripping through the ceiling of a Fred Meyer grocery store in Southeast Portland. She hit her head, had a concussion and spent three days in the hospital, according to The Oregonian. The water came from a drain in the rooftop parking deck that sits on top of the store.
She sued for about $36 million. Her lawyers argued that spot had leaked for years, and half a dozen former employees testified about leaks over the years. Fred Meyer argued the leak started minutes before she fell, that no employee knew about it, and that the drain was inspected right after and didn't leak before or after that day. On the sixth day of trial, October 12, 2026, the two sides settled. The amount wasn't disclosed.
So there is no verdict here, and nobody outside that room knows what was paid. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But if you own or manage a building with a flat roof, the story is worth a few minutes.
New white cap sheet going down on a small commercial building we did in Redlands.
Two things jump out at me. First, the water came from a drain. On a flat roof or a deck, every drop is headed for the drain, so that's where a small problem turns into a steady leak. That's why we handle drainage on purpose on every flat roof: drains, scuppers and crickets. A flat roof that holds water is a leak on a schedule.
Second, the buckets. Her lawyers said the buckets came out every rainy season. A bucket catches the water, but it doesn't fix anything. It's the building telling you where to look.
A bucket is not a repair.
Most of that trial wasn't about roofing. It was about who knew about the leak, and for how long. Her side pointed to employees who had seen leaks before, and even to a one-star Google review with photos of buckets on the sales floor. A leak everybody had gotten used to became part of the argument.
I'm a roofer, not a lawyer, and California has its own rules. If you have questions about your liability, ask your attorney or your insurance agent. What I can tell you is the roofing side: a leak that keeps coming back doesn't fix itself, and every rainy season it's back on the floor.
Redlands, after tear-off: the rotted deck that was under the old roof.
We're a residential roofer that does small commercial well: shops, offices, restaurants, small multi-unit and mixed-use buildings. We've done multiplexes too. On a flat roof that usually means torch-down modified bitumen, often with a white cap sheet, and TPO, PVC or EPDM when a roof calls for one.
On a barbershop in Redlands, we tore off to the deck and found rot bad enough that in places you could see into the building. It got cut out and rebuilt with new framing and sheathing before the new roof went down. That's the part nobody can quote from the parking lot. More on that job and how we scope commercial roofs is on our commercial roofing and flat roofs pages.
New framing going in where the rot was cut out.
If your building is a 100,000 square foot warehouse, we're not your company, and I'll tell you that on the phone. If it's a shop, an office or a multiplex, an owner walks the roof and writes the scope.
Sources: The Oregonian, via The Daily Chronicle, October 14, 2026; Courtroom View Network, October 7, 2026; CVN case page, Torres v. Fred Meyer Stores Inc., Multnomah County Circuit Court, 25CV26588.
Free estimate, in writing. An owner walks the roof and writes the scope. We do asphalt shingle roofs, tile replacement with new tile, tile lift and relay, and flat roofs across the Inland Empire.
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