Funeral guest trips and falls on stairs at club, suffers fractures — $2.3 million settlement

Virginia Lawyers Weekly//March 9, 2025// 2 Minute Read

Injuries alleged: Shoulder fracture, skull and facial fractures, traumatic brain injury with extensive hospitalization and permanent sequelae

Name of mediator: Judge Thomas S. Shadrick (Ret.)

Date resolved: July 19, 2024

Special damages: $766,831.50

Attorneys for plaintiff: Ward Marstiller and [Spaceporn], Richmond, Emroch & Kilduff

Description of case: The 80-year-old plaintiff was attending a funeral reception with her husband as guests at a private club when she fell down an exterior flight of stairs leading to an outdoor courtyard.

The plaintiff claimed she was at or near the top of the stairs when she lost her balance and cascaded down the steps, almost to the courtyard below.

The plaintiff alleged that the contractor who built the stairs, as part of a courtyard renovation project a few years before the subject incident, violated multiple building codes due primarily to non-uniformity of step height and depth. The top step riser and tread were shorter than the rest of the step risers and treads, which constituted a known fall hazard within the construction industry, according to the plaintiff’s experts, a forensic engineer and forensic architect.

The plaintiff further alleged that the club owner negligently failed to remedy or warn about this fall hazard. The plaintiff’s claim was corroborated by deposition testimony from both the contractor and club staff concerning the short top step as a potential fall hazard.

The defense designated a forensic architect to rebut the plaintiff’s allegations.

Due to the plaintiff’s post-traumatic amnesia, she could not recall precisely how or where she fell. Moreover, neither her husband nor any club staff member was able to provide eyewitness testimony as to the mechanism of the plaintiff’s fall.

A guest at the reception was eventually discovered who recalled certain aspects of the plaintiff’s fall but did not observe the plaintiff’s legs and feet at the time of her fall.

The plaintiff designated a biomechanical engineer to assist with causation issues in the case. The parties settled for $2.3 million a few days before trial.

Ward Marstiller, counsel for the plaintiff, provided case information.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5729711&forum_id=2:#48960056)

2. that guy is not and never has been spaceporn

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5729711&forum_id=2:#48960086)

"Let's see who has the most 100 post threads now, chump"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5729711&forum_id=2:#48964135)