Tracy J. Renshaw filed an outback steakhouse slip fall case seeking $1.5 million after alleging she slipped on mashed potatoes at a Sterling, Virginia restaurant in May 2023. The lawsuit was filed in March 2025 and says she fell face-first while heading to the washroom.
Outback filed a notice of removal, which could move the dispute from state court to federal court if granted. The restaurant denied that there was any substance on the floor and denied that Renshaw sustained any injuries.
Renshaw’s March 2025 filing
Renshaw’s lawsuit says the floor had not been cleaned and no warning was posted. It also claims the restaurant did not clean the floor within a reasonable amount of time. The suit seeks damages for alleged injuries, hospital bills, and loss of the ability to work.
The complaint says she slipped on what appeared to be mashed potatoes while walking to the washroom at the Sterling location. It describes the resulting injuries as “serious and permanent injuries,” and ties the claim to a single incident in May 2023.
Outback’s notice of removal
Outback’s filing goes further than a general denial. The company argued that if an accident occurred, Renshaw contributed to it, and said that if mashed potatoes were on the floor, they would have been obvious to anyone, including Renshaw.
The restaurant also said it can “neither confirm nor deny” that it has a location in Sterling and that the allegation “shall be construed as denied.” Those statements sit alongside the company’s broader challenge to the lawsuit’s core claim that a dangerous substance was left on the floor.
Sterling location and records
Yelp contains reviews for a now-closed Outback location in Sterling, with the most recent review posted in August 2023. That record gives the case a concrete place and timeline: the alleged fall in May 2023, the lawsuit in March 2025, and the removal filing that followed.
For Renshaw, the next practical step is whether the removal stands, because that decides where the dispute is heard. For diners, the case turns on the same narrow question at the center of most slip-and-fall claims: what was on the floor, who saw it, and what the restaurant says it did before the alleged fall.
