City, state seek dismissal of lawsuit stemming from courthouse fall

The state of Missouri and the city of Cape Girardeau want a circuit judge to dismiss a personal-injury lawsuit against them, stemming from a fall on basement stairs in the Common Pleas Courthouse.

Pamela Allen and her husband Kelly initially sued Cape Girardeau County government in March over serious injuries she sustained in 2013 when she fell down stairs leading to the basement of the historic courthouse.

According to the lawsuit, Pamela Allen suffered injuries, including a fracture of her left leg and "life-threatening blood clots in her lungs."

Built in 1854, the basement of the Common Pleas Courthouse commonly was referred to as the "dungeon" because "the dungeon has not been modernized significantly since its original construction and the fact that the dungeon was formerly used to imprison Confederate soldiers and Southern sympathizers," the lawsuit states.

County officials contended the county government has sovereign immunity from "any and all allegations" in this case, and the woman may have been at fault by being "careless and negligent."

But the plaintiffs argue the county possessed liability insurance with the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund to cover such injuries, thereby waiving sovereign immunity.

According to the amended lawsuit, the county and city each own half interest in the courthouse at 44 N. Lorimier St. As part of a 1979 agreement, the county government is responsible for maintenance and repairs to the building, the lawsuit states. The building houses circuit court offices and courtrooms. The circuit-court system is part of state government.

The county, in its legal response, maintained it doesn't have exclusive possession of the courthouse in downtown Cape Girardeau.

The case, originally filed in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court, was moved May 24 to Stoddard County on a change of venue.

Judge Stephen Mitchell last month granted the plaintiffs' request to add the city and state as defendants in the lawsuit and denied the county's motion for summary judgment to dismiss the case.

In response to being added as defendants, attorneys for the city and state denied those governmental bodies had any liability for the woman's injuries.

Like the county government, the city and the state argued they have sovereign immunity.

The city, in its response filed by attorney Al Spradling III, contended the stairway leading to the courthouse basement is "an open and obvious condition, that the courthouse is a historic structure and is not required to meet modern day standards, nor does the county or the state of Missouri have to comply with any city building codes or standards." The state, in a memorandum to the court filed by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and assistant attorney general Katherine Walsh, argued the county was responsible for maintenance and repairs to the Cape Girardeau courthouse. According to the memorandum, the state does not own the courthouse.

"The county has previously argued that the state has exclusive control over the property. This is not true. The county has control over the property and is required, by statute, to maintain it for use as a courthouse," the state's attorneys wrote.

Even if the courthouse were owned by the state, they said, "a lack of warnings, barriers or similar preventative measure do not constitute a dangerous condition" under state law.

In response to the state's motion for dismissal, the plaintiffs' attorney, D. Matthew Edwards, wrote the plaintiffs "are generally sympathetic" to the state's arguments. But Edwards wrote the state has become "an indispensable party to this action in that should county prevail in asserting that the courthouse is the state's property, plaintiffs would therefore hold state responsible for the dangerous condition of the property" which resulted in the injuries.

"Until such time as a finding of fact is made as to which public entity the courthouse belongs, the state should not be dismissed as a party to this action," Edwards said in his legal response to the court, filed late last month.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

44 N. Lorimier St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.