PHILADELPHIA – A settlement has been reached in the case of a painter who claims to have suffered a broken leg while working on the premises of a restaurant in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge John M. Younge announced last summer that the case had been settled prior to assignment for trial. Counsel for plaintiff Thomas Thompson of Philadelphia subsequently filed a praecipe to mark the instant case as settled, discontinued and ended with prejudice, upon payment of defense costs only.
The praecipe was entered with the court on Sept. 10 and terms of the settlement were not made available.
Thompson originally filed the suit against Marty, Inc., LeBus Bistro, David Braverman, Indian Queen Investors and Patricia Metzner, all of Philadelphia, in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in July 2018.
“On or about May 5, 2018, plaintiff Thomas Thompson was lawfully working at the above captioned premises, painting the exterior of the premises. Plaintiff was on a ladder, when suddenly and without warning, a closed awning was opened by the defendants’ employee, pushing the ladder away from the wall and causing the plaintiff to fall to the ground suffering serious and permanent injuries,” the lawsuit stated.
Thompson suffered multiple complex fractures of the left leg, requiring surgery with hardware installation, and alleged other injuries.
The incident was the alleged result of the defendants' failure to maintain safe premises, being aware of safety issues at the premises but not inspecting or repairing them and failing to make a reasonable standard of care, among other issues.
Defendant Metzner filed an answer to the complaint last December, which denied liability and negligence for the events in question that allegedly led to Thompson’s injuries, and demanded strict proof at trial. Prior to settlement and for five individual counts of negligence against each defendant, the plaintiff sought damages in excess of $50,000, plus interest, costs, delay damages and punitive damages, under Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 238.
The plaintiff was represented by Richard W. Johnson of Wilson & Johnson, in Newtown. The defendants were represented by Eleanor C. Good of the Law Office of Donna DiPietro and Paul J. Furlong, both in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 180703066
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com