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Premises Liability- Rotted Stairwell

A recent case caught my eye – it is unfortunately an all-too-familiar scenario: a person walks up/down a rotted stairwell and falls through, thereby sustaining serious injuries. In this case, the steps of a wooden stairway at a railroad station gave way, causing a 49 year old commuter to fall 30 feet onto the platform below. Not surprisingly, the commuter sustained serious neck, hip and shoulder injuries that required medical treatment costing in excess of $100,000 and resulted in many days of missed work and incurred lost wages.

The case went to trial and the jury awarded approximately $466,000.00. Obviously, this type of case become easier to prove if the injured person can show that the property owner knew about the defective/dangerous condition of the property it owned, supervised and/or maintained.

Aggressive discovery may be necessary to elicit that information, but, when proven, it becomes much more difficult for the property owner to defend the claim.

Here at Harris & Associates, we specialize in premises liability cases and are happy to discuss your legal rights with you.