PITTSBURGH – A Western Pennsylvania man says a negligent lack of proper lighting led him to fall over a pair of retaining walls in his apartment parking lot, causing him to become seriously injured.
Timothy Stroupe filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Jan. 11 versus LeDonne Associates Limited Partnership and P.D. & E Associates, Inc., both of Allison Park.
The suit says the plaintiff was a tenant of defendant at the premises and was entitled to utilize the parking lot. Two of the parking spaces located on the parking lot were held in place by a stone retaining wall. The retaining wall did not have a hand railing or guard despite having two iron pipes on the east side of the retaining wall curb and a single iron pipe in the landscape shrubbery beyond the end of the retaining wall.
The suit adds that the lack of a guard surrounding the elevated portion of the parking lot posed a dangerous condition to lessees and other invitees at the property. Furthermore, the parking lot was said to not have any light posts and was only lit by a streetlight, and as such, it was difficult for those who accessed the premises to appreciate the dangers described above.
“On Jan. 24, 2020, at approximately 11:15 pm, Stroupe was exiting his car which was parked at the above-described parking lot. As he was carefully and lawfully traversing the aforesaid area, he was caused to fall over the upper retaining wall at the southeast corner of the parking lot, and then over the lower retaining wall, and ultimately landed onto the concrete driveway,” the suit states.
“This incident was a result of the above-described dangerous condition and defect of the parking lot. On Jan. 24, 2020, both LeDonne Associates and P.D. & E Associates had actual knowledge or could reasonably be charged with notice of the dangerous condition at a sufficient time before the incident to have taken measure to protect against the defect and unsafe condition. The defect and unsafe condition of the premises created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the type of injury that Timothy Stroupe sustained.”
The plaintiff continued that the defendants’ negligence in failing to light the parking lot and provide both a guard surrounding the upper portion of the parking lot and hand rails along both the upper and lower retaining walls caused his various injuries.
“As the sole, direct, legal, and proximate result of the negligence of the defendant, as aforesaid, the plaintiff, Timothy Stroupe, has suffered the following injuries: Broken nose, concussion; stitches, scars, a chipped tooth and other injuries, the full extent of which are unknown,” per the suit.
For counts of negligence and negligence per se, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of the applicable arbitration limits, exclusive of interest and costs, plus a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by George M. Kontos and Christopher C. Inman of Kontos Mengine Killion & Hassen, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-21-000336
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com