$1,950,000 Settlement for Client Who Sustained Injuries After Falling Down the Stairs

A mother of three slipped and fell down a flight of stairs in her apartment building as a result of an ongoing water leak. It had rained earlier in the day and rainwater from that storm coated the floor, causing our client to slip and injure herself. As a result of the accident, our client suffered injuries to her spine which required surgery. Represented by Partners S. Joseph Donahue and Jeffrey A. Block, she received a $1.95 million settlement.

Court and County
Supreme Court, Bronx County

Plaintiff Description
At the time of the accident, Plaintiff was 35 years old, unemployed, and a mother of three children under 16 years old.

If you’ve been injured in a stairway accident, it’s important to understand your legal rights. Call 212-736-5300 or fill out our Contact Form to speak with an attorney today.

Description of Case
On a summer evening, our client and her three children were getting ready to pick up her husband from work at 11:00 p.m. They had lived on the fourth floor of a five-story apartment building in the Bronx for approximately five years at that time. Our client was very familiar with the stairs and the conditions of the apartment building. One of the major issues with the building was that the roof leaked when it rained, leaving the stairs wet.

Earlier in the evening, it had rained and the leak in the roof allowed the rainwater to cover the stairs. The water on the stairs ran down the entire stairwell to the ground floor. This created a very hazardous condition for both our client and her children as they would be making their way down to the ground floor.

Our client had noticed this condition when she first started living there and for five years had told the building owners, management, the super of the building, and 311 about this issue. The issue was not addressed by any of the defendants and the leak in the roof of the building continued, leaving the stairs wet and dangerous. Our client was not the only one to notice this issue; other building residents noticed as well.

The leak in the roof and the resulting slippery stairs was not the only problem. The stairwell had insufficient lighting, lack of any anti-skid devices, insufficient railings for the residents to hold onto, and the stairs showed ongoing prolonged water damage. The stairs had deteriorated so much that the wall of the stairwell also showed water damage and the rainwater had created valleys in the stairs to allow for the accumulation of water. This accident could have easily been prevented if the building owner, manager, or the super of the building had just fixed the leak in the roof. Sadly, this problem was not resolved before the incident.

At approximately 11:00 p.m., our client exited her apartment with her children. She attempted to step down off the fourth floor landing onto the first stair leading to the third floor. As she made this step, she slipped on the wet surface and fell down approximately seven stairs, causing severe injury to herself. Thankfully, her children were not injured on the wet staircase.

As a result of the fall, emergency services were called to the building and she was taken to the hospital to be treated for her injuries.

Injuries and Damages
Our client suffered a concussion, headaches, anxiety, right ankle pain, pain in both knees, left shoulder pain, neck pain, and spinal injuries. The spine injuries resulted in an anterior cervical discectomy spinal fusion surgery and a lumbar fusion at L4-5.

Settlement Amount
After lengthy settlement negotiations and before trial, our client accepted a settlement offer of $1,950,000.

Handling Attorneys
The matter was handled by Partners S. Joseph Donahue and Jeffrey A. Block.

Legal Representation in Stairway Fall Cases

Our attorneys have years of experience litigating stairway accident cases. If you have been injured in a staircase fall, the lawyers at Block O’Toole & Murphy are here to help. They will fight to get you the full amount of compensation you are legally entitled to. Relevant results we have obtained include:

• $3,200,000 settlement for a Brooklyn worker who suffered multiple injuries when a wooden step broke under the weight of his foot
• $3,125,000 settlement for a hotel employee who sustained serious back injuries that required surgery after falling down a flight of metal stairs
• $2,650,000 settlement for an electrician foreman who tripped and fell down stairs at a Manhattan construction site, causing back injuries that required spinal surgery
• $2,250,000 settlement for a 58-year-old woman who slipped and fell down the stairs in her apartment building due to a water leak.
• $1,900,000 settlement for our client, who sustained three cervical disc bulges and four cervical disc herniations after slipping and falling down steps in her workplace
• $1,500,000 settlement for a 33-year-old man who required spine surgery after he tripped over a slightly-raised metal strip at the top of a stairway in his apartment and fell to the bottom

We serve New York and New Jersey. Dial 212-736-5300 to speak to a stairway accident lawyer today.