Pa. couple sues out-of-town landlord for injuries sustained in Philly slip-and-fall incident

A Montgomery County, Pa. couple has filed a personal injury lawsuit against an out-of-state landlord for injuries the wife claims she sustained after slipping on the steps of a Philadelphia building owned by the defendants.

Attorney Martin S. Kardon, of the Philadelphia law firm of Kanter, Bernstein & Kardon, P.C., filed the civil action Oct. 7 at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Colleen and Larry Spak of Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

Named as defendants in the complaint are Carol and Lawrence Schenck of Allen, TX.

The complaint alleges that while walking along the defendant's Philadelphia property on Oct. 24, 2009, Colleen Spak tripped and fell on exterior steps that were allegedly slippery due to a coat of “dangerous paint not intended for exterior steps.”

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of negligence for allowing the steps to be painted with a type of paint that did not easily dry, failing to adequately and safely clean, maintain, repair, illuminate or mark the steps on which plaintiff was walking when she fell, failing to warn plaintiff of the dangerous surface on the steps, failing to clean, repair or remove foreign objects or substances existing on the steps of the defendant’s property, and failing to provide a safe premises for plaintiff to walk.

As a result of her fall, Colleen Spak sustained injuries to her head, neck, shoulders, body and extremities. These included disc injuries, lower back contusions, canal stenosis, as well as severe shocks and injuries to her bones, muscles, nervous system and “psycho-social well being.”

Colleen Spak has also suffered mental anguish, the lawsuit claims, and she has suffered financial hardship because of her inability to carry out her job duties.

She has also had to spend various sums of money on medical attention in an effort to “cure herself of said injuries.”

Colleen Spak demands judgment against the defendants in a sum in excess of $50,000, together with interest, delay damages and other court costs.

Larry Spak has a loss of consortium count in the lawsuit in which he claims he has been deprived of his wife’s companionship because of her injuries, and that he, too, has suffered economic losses.

Larry Spak also seeks $50,000 plus related costs.

A jury trial has been demanded. An arbitration hearing is scheduled for June of next year.

The case number is 111000855.