Defective Stairway - $200,000.00

Our client was a tenant in an apartment building complex with an adjacent parking lot who suffered a zygomatic arch fracture when she lost her footing and fell while descending an exterior parking lot stairway. An investigation of the condition of the exterior stairway with a building code expert revealed that the stairway contained multiple tripping and pacing cadence hazards, including stair tread depths that were not uniform in depth and varied by 3 inches from 7 1/4 inches to 10 1/4 inches. Claims for negligence and breach of the warranty of habitability based on violations of the Massachusetts State Building Code and Massachusetts State Sanitary Code were made against the owner of the property and the property management company. The case was settled shortly after a demand package was sent to the insurance company.