PITTSBURGH – Alongside the Allegheny County Housing Authority, a pair of Pittsburgh landlords deny any liability for and oppose an action for negligence and wrongful death, filed after the 2-year old son of their tenants fell to his death through an allegedly defective window in 2018.
On May 1, Craig Edwards, administrator of the Estate of Roland Williams Jr. filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas against Michael W. Gestrich and Carol J. Gestrich (doing business as “Liberty Management”) and the Allegheny County Housing Authority. All parties are based in Pittsburgh.
The defendants maintained a residential housing unit in Sharpsburg where Roland resided with his parents, Briana Edwards and Roland Williams Sr., the lawsuit says.
On the third floor of the unit is a room with two windows approximately six inches apart and located nine inches off the floor – which allegedly featured thin horizontal bars, but failed to have protective screens installed.
Despite an inspection taking place in November 2017, the suit said that this defective condition was not remedied.
On June 2, 2018, two-year-old Roland Williams Jr. was playing in the room and leaned against the windowsill in question, causing him to fall out of the window 23 feet to the ground and sustain injuries which proved fatal, the plaintiff claims.
The plaintiff said the defendants are liable for survival and wrongful death, and are seeking medical expenses, funeral expenses, estate expenses and other losses and recoverable damages in excess of $50,000, plus court costs and interest.
UPDATE
Counsel for the Gestriches filed an answer to the complaint with new matter on July 20, countering that the plaintiffs failed to state a proper claim and contributed to the circumstances surrounding their son’s death.
“Plaintiff’s complaint fails to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted. Answering defendants aver that decedent’s parents and/or natural guardians were comparatively and/or contributorily negligent, and as a result of said negligence, any recovery by plaintiff, should be eliminated or reduced in accordance with the Pennsylvania Comparative Negligence Act,” the answer read, in part.
“The negligence and/or recklessness of the decedent’s parents and/or natural guardians was a substantial factor in bringing about the accident and/or injury/death alleged. This negligence and/or recklessness operates to bar or limit the damages asserted.”
The answer added the plaintiff’s claims are barred by the doctrine of res judicata and the decedent’s injuries/death were caused by others over whom answering defendants had no control and for which they cannot be held responsible.
Additionally, the Gestriches leveled cross-claim counts that the Allegheny County Housing Authority was the sole party liable for the events in question.
On July 21, the Gestriches filed a third-party joinder complaint against Williams and Edwards, charging they failed to properly supervise the decedent and failed to mitigate or provide notice of the dangerous conditions, thereby resulting in their son’s death.
The plaintiff is represented by Peter D. Friday, Kevin S. Burger and John K. Bryan of Friday & Cox, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants are represented by Martin A. Durkin of Durkin Law Offices in Philadelphia and James M. Leety of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, in Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-20-005447
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com