Video Blog: Legal Victory for Elderly Woman After Fall From Defective Staircase

In this video blog, attorney Claude Wyle explains a case he handled involving a woman who could not work due to a slip and fall injury, and the eviction she faced due to her employment status. Under premises liability law, apartment managers must maintain their property and repair any defective stairways. Thankfully, this case has a happy ending.

Video Transcript:

One of the cases I'd like to talk about may not be the biggest case we've handled in this office but it was one of the most rewarding emotionally that I can remember. This is a case for a lady called Glenna and Glenna was just approaching elderly. She still had to work and Glenna made a living giving people in a clinic injections. Glenda was visiting her son and unfortunately the landlord did not maintain the stairs at her son's residence and Glenna fell backwards and shattered her wrist, and sadly, Glenna was never able to provide injections or be a nurse again. The worst part of it for Glenna was that her employer provided her not only a salary but a place to live as her compensation. And when she lost her ability to perform her job, she lost her place to live and she became effectively homeless. That was very tough on a 68 year old woman.

And what made it really tug at your heartstrings was Glenna in her spare time had a giant Newfoundland dog who was trained to be a helper and a dog to comfort people in hospice when they were dying. This giant 150 pound black dog would climb up on a bed with people who were dying and provide them tremendous comfort. And Glenna was so proud of that and she loved that dog. Indeed that dog before she lost her home when Glennon was in the tub and couldn't pull herself out as she started to slip under the water because her wrist was broken and she didn't have the strength to pull herself out, she grabbed that dog's color and the dog pulled her out of the tub and saved her life. Well the horrible thing is when Glenna lost her place to live Glenda had to give up that dog. Dog's name was Breezy.

The great thing was is that although it was a very tough case because it's always hard to prove that the stairway caused her to fall as opposed to her own inadvertence or mistake, we went down and investigated the stairway ourselves and I found some things that the landlord had been trying to hide and I found some lies and we caught them and we were able to able to settle for a substantial sum and the amount isn't really important. But the great thing was is that after we settled and after we paid off all of her medical bills, Glenna was able to buy herself a house where she could live and never have to worry about getting thrown out again. And she got her dog back and she has that dog today and they're enjoying a good life.

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