Pa. man sues Pocono resort over fractured ankle caused by loose railing

A Pennsylvania man claims he fractured his ankle after the railing he was

holding on to at a vacation resort came loose from the wall, sending the plaintiff tumbling down the stairs.

Bryant Laws, who resides in Drexel Hill, Delaware County, filed suit on Wednesday against Wyndham Vacation Ownership, which does business as the Shawnee Village Resort.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Philadelphia by attorneys with the Bucks County, Pa. firm of Swartz Culleton P.C., claims that Laws sustained a fracture of the left lateral malleolus and nervous system shock after, while was walking down the stairs at the Stroudsburg, Pa., resort on June 21, 2012, the railing gave way causing the plaintiff to fall and land on his leg.

The railing had become detached from the wall at the time, causing Laws to fall down several stairs at the vacation spot, which is located on Buttermilk Falls Road in the Pocono Mountains, according to the civil action.

The premises liability complaint accuses the defendant of negligence for allowing the property to be kept in a dangerous condition, failing to recognize the risk posed at the site, failing to properly inspect and maintain the resort, and failing to timely repair defects on the premises.

Laws says that the incident has caused him to experience pain and suffering, and forced him to spend various sums of money on medical procedures to treat his fractured ankle.

The plaintiff also asserts that his injuries may result in the permanent loss of use of a bodily function, dismemberment and/or scarring, which may be permanent, irreparable and severe.

As a further result of the accident, Laws has suffered “great and unremitting physical pain, suffering and mental anguish, embarrassment and humiliation, and scarring, all of which may continue in the future,” the suit reads.

Laws seeks $150,000 in monetary damages, along with interest, attorneys’ fees and costs.

The matter has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Norma L. Shapiro of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

 

 

The federal case number is 2:13-cv-05575-NS.