Marble stairway incident at Center City building prompts personal injury suit

A New Jersey woman who alleges she seriously injured herself after falling on marble stairs outside of a Center City, Philadelphia, building has filed a personal injury claim against the property’s owner and the businesses that inhabit the space.

Attorney Marc D. Vitale, of the law firm of Brownstein Vitale & Weiss PC, filed the civil complaint Sept. 21 at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Haddonfield, N.J., resident Lois Lombardo.

The defendants named in the suit are Philadelphia-based Mellon Independence Center, Independence Center Realty L.P. and U.S. Management Realty Inc., as well as the Upper Darby, Pa.-based Arthur Jackson Co., and Boston, Mass.-based New England Mutual Life Insurance Co.

According to the complaint, Lombardo was a pedestrian outside of the defendants’ building at 701 Market St. back on Dec. 11, 2009, when she tripped and fell after coming into contact with unprotected marble steps and a marble landing she alleges were “uneven and blended together optically causing the Plaintiff to be unaware there were different levels in the walking surface.”

As a result of her fall, the lawsuit claims, Lombardo sustained various injuries to her head, neck, back, arms, legs and body. She also suffered a shock to her nervous system, and experienced great physical pain and mental anguish, the suit states.

Lombardo has been compelled to spend various sums of money on medical treatment due to her injuries, the lawsuit claims, and she has been prevented from carrying out her regular duties, activities and occupations, and may be prevented from doing the same in the future, the suit claims.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of negligence and recklessness for failing to properly inspect the premises, failing to correct the dangerous and hazardous condition that existed on the premises, failing to warn business invitees of the condition, and failing to erect and maintain proper barricades and other safeguards to protect pedestrians and business invitees from the dangerous condition that existed outside of the office building.

Lombardo seeks judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, in a sum not to exceed $50,000.

The non-jury matter is scheduled for arbitration in late May 2012.

The case number is 110902310.