PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh woman says official entities from the City of Pittsburgh were negligent in not repairing a section of sidewalk leading to a common mailbox area near her residence, causing her to fall and become seriously injured.
Jacqueline Harris-Waters filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 7 versus The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh and the City of Pittsburgh and Corcoran Jennison Management, LLC, of Boston, Mass.
Harris-Waters resided in the Oak Hill Apartments community in Pittsburgh.
“On March 22, 2019, at approximately 6 p.m., plaintiff Jacqueline Harris-Waters exited her residence at 246 Oak Hill Drive, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to retrieve her mail from a common mailbox located adjacent to the sidewalk along the eastern side of Oak Hill Drive,” the suit says.
“As she was carefully and prudently walking on the aforesaid sidewalk leading towards the mailbox, she was caused to violently fall due to dangerous conditions created by an uneven, defective and eroded surface of the concrete sidewalk. The aforesaid defective and hazardous conditions of the sidewalk were located on the sidewalk in front of the property at 280 Oak Hill Drive, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania 15213.”
The plaintiff argues the conditions caused by the defendants’ negligence were sufficient enough to cause her injuries.
“The aforesaid defective conditions of the sidewalk created a reasonably foreseeable risk that a pedestrian while walking would be caused to fall and sustain injury, and defendant City of Pittsburgh had actual notice or could reasonably have been charged with notice under the circumstances of the likelihood of a dangerous condition existing at the time of the accident, with such notice available to defendant at any time sufficiently prior to the accident to have taken measures to protect against the same,” according to the suit.
As a result of the fall, Harris-Waters suffered numerous injuries, including severe sprains and strains of the left knee, left ankle and left foot, left knee contusion, left knee pain, patellofemoral syndrome of the left lower extremity, bone bruise of the left knee, scarring of the left lower extremity, possible aggravation of pre-existing disease processes and/or health deficiencies, nervousness, tension and emotional anxiety.
For multiple counts of negligence, the plaintiff is seeking damages, jointly and severally, in excess of the arbitration limits of Allegheny County, plus a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by James Villanova of Villanova Law Office, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-20-013154
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com