Collier jury awards dieting woman $170,000 for injuries after body wrapping

I'm lying on the floor in my bra and underwear, wet and bleeding, and they're not doing much to help me at all."

Patty Gondek

The courts

EAST NAPLES — Patty Gondek wanted to lose some weight and get healthier, so she joined Slender Life Health Center of Naples three years ago.

But on her second visit, after an employee wrapped her with mineral-soaked bandages, like a mummy, she was asked to walk across the floor.

"I took one step and my feet slipped out from under me and I fell face-first on the floor," Gondek, now 61, testified, bursting into tears Friday as she told a Collier circuit court jury about that day in September 2010. "I had immediate pain. The bigger problem was I couldn't breathe."

Staff told her to sit up, then stand, as they cut off the wraps.

"I'm lying on the floor in my bra and underwear, wet and bleeding, and they're not doing much to help me at all," she testified.

When paramedics arrived, they urged her to go to a hospital, but she wanted to go home, so they gave her two ice packs and they drove behind her. But in order to leave, Slender Life staff forced her to sign a liability waiver.

Gondek, whose face, eyes and nose were swollen, purple and red, suffered a broken nose, broken bones under her right eye and vision problems for 10 days. Looking like an abuse victim, she wore a nose cast for 12 weeks and the right side of her face is now slightly concave.

On Friday, jurors deliberated 45 minutes before awarding Gondek $142,800 for past pain, suffering, disability, mental anguish and capacity to enjoy life. They also awarded her $15,000 for future pain and suffering, $4,979.25 for medical bills and $8,000 for lost wages.

"I'm just glad I have a little bit of closure," Gondek said as she left court. "It was a difficult thing to go through."

Attorney Mark Steinberg of Naples asked jurors for $100,000 to $200,000, in addition to reimbursement for Gondek's lost wages, medical bills and prescriptions.

"We got a fair trial from the court and jury," Steinberg said. "They took their time looking through the evidence."

Now dissolved, Slender Life Health Center of Naples shut down without warning in November 2011, leaving customers who had prepaid for services with no options but to file complaints. Others in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Port Charlotte also closed after a Groupon blitz that garnered new customers.

The owners, Louis and Sharon Puariea, didn't testify or respond to the September 2011 lawsuit or Steinberg's requests. Louis Puariea did file an answer that December, saying he was 71, his wife was dead, he hadn't been involved in the business since 2000 and he was living on Social Security in Georgia.

He couldn't be reached for comment Friday. Jurors also couldn't be reached after the verdict.

Steinberg said he will file a lien against Puariea's property, then send him requests for information about assets and property.

The trial before Collier Circuit Judge Cynthia Pivacek began Friday with Steinberg picking a jury without a defense attorney or defendant there to object to his choices.

During his opening statement, he told jurors Gondek didn't think the old shoes Slender Life provided customers were in good condition or safe, so they let her purchase rubber boat shoes.

"They wrap your legs individually, then they wrap your body, so you don't walk normally," Steinberg said as he waddled, his arms and hands close to his body, like a penguin. "Why didn't she protect herself? She was wrapped up."

Her doctors wouldn't let her work so she took disability leave for three weeks, then returned, initially working two hours daily. Customers who saw her red, swollen eyes, nose and face asked if she'd been in a car crash or was a victim of domestic violence, so she was forced to defend her husband of 35 years.

Gondek said during her first visit, an employee wiped the floor dry after wrapping her, then helped her walk to a room with a TV. On her second visit with another employee, the floor wasn't wiped up and nobody helped her walk. Gondek fell.

Doctors said she'd heal better if she slept on her La-Z-Boy, so she did for 6½ weeks. She was unable to help her husband, who was undergoing cancer treatment, and couldn't do housework or walk her dog.

"It felt like I had been in a boxing match," she said. "Not just my face, but I hurt all over."