Appeals court upholds personal injury verdict for Cape couple

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, located in Springfield, has affirmed the trial court in a 12-page ruling released Dec. 29 upholding a $427,500 personal injury award to a local woman seriously injured in 2013 after falling down the basement stairs of the historic Common Pleas Courthouse, 44 N. Lorimier St. in downtown Cape Girardeau.

“We’re very pleased by the ruling because the law supported the decision made by the jury,” said D. Matthew Edwards on Wednesday, attorney for the plaintiffs, Pamela and Kelly Allen of Cape Girardeau.

After both sides agreed to a change of venue, a Stoddard County jury in Bloomfield, Missouri, on May 3, 2019, found the State of Missouri at fault for the injuries of Pamela Allen after a three-day trial.

Allen and her husband, Kelly, filed suit in March 2016, alleging Pamela suffered serious injuries to her lower and upper extremities and a left leg fracture resulting in life threatening blood clots in her lungs.

The suit, which asked for a court judgment of $500,000, also said Pamela Allen required treatment in intensive care.

The Allen lawsuit asserted Pamela incurred $130,000 in medical care expenses and said the fall occurred as Allen headed to the courthouse basement to retrieve a court file.

The suit alleged the stairs in the courthouse, built in 1854, “were dangerous and in a defective physical condition.”

Today, the courthouse is undergoing complete renovation and is part of the new Cape Girardeau City Hall project, expected to be completed by October.

Injury review

According to the appeals court ruling, Allen’s injury occurred Aug. 29, 2013, as she received a request from her employer, United Land Title, to retrieve “a couple of judgments” from the courthouse basement.

Receiving a key from a deputy clerk employed by the state, Allen began to descend the stairway after unlocking the basement door.

“Pamela began slowly descending the stairs at an angle because her feet did not fit on the stair treads. During her descent, (Allen) grabbed the handrail ... and looked down as she stepped. At the second or third step from the landing, Pamela stepped with her left foot and felt it slip off the stair. She fell forward and hit the landing. Pamela sustained several injuries but the worst pain was in her left leg. She could not stand up, so she crawled to the top of the stairway. Upon reaching the entrance, she called out for the on-duty officer, who responded,” the appeals court ruling document reads.

The initial diagnosis was a broken left leg, which the court said was placed in a cast and Allen was sent home with instructions to keep the leg elevated during recovery.

By Sept. 7, 2013, the document continued, Allen began having significant pain in her chest and back and experienced breathing difficulties and after a 911 call, was taken to a hospital, where she remained 12 days.

Allen was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis and an acute saddle embolus and suffered a pulmonary infarction, causing part of her lung tissues to die, said the ruling.

According to previous reporting by the Southeast Missourian, Allen required surgery and extensive rehabilitation, had a blood filter implanted in her left leg and suffered injuries the lawsuit said “are permanent and disabling,” although Allen eventually returned to work and continues to be employed today by United Land Title.

The ruling, in affirming the award, said the concrete stairs, believed to date from the courthouse’s mid-19th century construction, “were not uniform in size, varying in slope, riser height and tread depth. The treads were not level, sloped downward by as much as nine percent and narrower than modern stairs.”

Acknowledging the stairway to the basement was “locked most of the time,” the appeals court pointed out the stairway “had one handrail, illuminated by a single bulb with lower than normal headroom with pipes and wires running overhead.”

Lawsuit progress

The Allens initially sued the state, Cape Girardeau County and the City of Cape Girardeau to recover damages “for Pamela’s personal injuries and Kelly’s loss of consortium.”

In 2013, the city and county jointly owned the courthouse but it was occupied by the state.

The jury found only the state was liable and excused the other defendants from financial culpability.

The state was found 90% liable and Pamela Allen 10% liable, so the jury’s award was reduced to $427,500.

“Missouri is a comparative-fault jurisdiction,” said attorney Edwards, “and (Pamela) was found to be partially at fault for looking up at the wiring and piping while descending the stairs.”

What’s next

Edwards said he does not expect his client’s court fight is over.

“The Missouri Attorney General is very likely to ask for a rehearing by the appeals court or a transfer to the state supreme court,” he said, acknowledging a large majority of applications for consideration by the Missouri’s highest court are often denied.