NewsAugust 20, 2021
Missouri's highest court to hear Cape 'slip and fall' case from 2013
The Supreme Court of Missouri is expected to hear oral arguments in Jefferson City on Sept. 14 in an 8-year- old case in which a jury awarded a $475,000 judgment to a local woman who slipped and fell on the basement stairs of the former Cape Girardeau Common Pleas Courthouse -- which has become part of the new Cape Girardeau City Hall complex, expected to open Dec. 1...
The Supreme Court of Missouri is expected to hear oral arguments in Jefferson City on Sept. 14 in an 8-year- old case in which a jury awarded a $475,000 judgment to a local woman who slipped and fell on the basement stairs of the former Cape Girardeau Common Pleas Courthouse -- which has become part of the new Cape Girardeau City Hall complex, expected to open Dec. 1.
History
On Dec. 29, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, based in Springfield, affirmed the trial court in upholding the personal injury award to Pamela and Kelly Allen of Cape Girardeau after the Allens filed suit in March 2016.
The Allen lawsuit asserted Pamela Allen incurred $130,000 in medical care expenses and reported the fall occurred as she headed to the courthouse basement to retrieve a court file on behalf of her employer, United Land Title, on Aug. 29, 2013.
According to the appeals court ruling, Allen received a key from a deputy clerk employed by the state to access the basement. The court document further stated after unlocking the basement door, Pamela began to "slowly descend the stairs at an angle because her feet did not fit on the stair treads (and) during her descent, (Allen) grabbed the handrail (and) at the second or third step from the landing, (she) stepped with her left foot and felt it slip off the stair. She fell forward and hit the landing, (sustaining) several injuries."
The lawsuit claimed the initial diagnosis was a broken left leg. Unable to stand, the court document continued, Allen crawled to the top of stairway (and) upon reaching the entrance, "called out for the on-duty officer, who responded."
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 Allen's injuries after a three-day trial.
The original March 2016 suit by the Allens alleged serious injuries to Pamela's lower and upper extremities and a left leg fracture resulting in life-threatening blood clots in her lungs and treatment in hospital intensive care.
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The stairs in the old courthouse, built in 1854, "were dangerous and in a defective physical condition," the Allens contended.
Culpability assigned
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 trial 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 the Allens' attorney D. Matthew Edwards in January, "and (Pamela) was found to be partially at fault for looking up at the wiring and piping while descending the stairs."
The appeal to the state's high court is from the Office of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who requested the verdict be reversed because one of the trial jury's instructions "was a misstatement of the law and the State never waived sovereign immunity."
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