$3,825,450.00 Arbitration Award for a 27 Year Old Man Who Sustained a Spinal Cord Injury When Stairs Collapsed at Work

On February 21, 2006, a 27 year old man was descending the stairs leading to the basement of the restaurant where he worked when the stairs suddenly collapsed, causing him to lose his balance and strike the stairs with his back, and further causing him to sustain severe injuries. The claims of negligence against the defendant landlord were that the stairs lacked any handrails, which is negligence per se and a violation of the Connecticut Fire Safety Code, as well as the fact that the stringer on the right side of the stairs was not properly attached to the floor beam and simply gave way when the plaintiff began to descend the stairs. As a result of the accident, the client sustained a herniated thoracic disc at T4-5 which pressed against his spinal cord causing him to sustain a traumatic injury to the spinal cord. The client was subsequently referred to a neurosurgeon in Boston who performed a spinal fusion, laminectomy and discectomy surgery on his thoracic spine. The client also suffered from constant pain due to the injuries and his doctors recommended that he receive an intrathecal pain pump which was installed in his abdomen in order to relieve some of the pain. The pain pump helped the client to regain some of his function and he eventually returned to work but the pain has never subsided. Suit was instituted in Waterbury Superior Court and the case was later submitted to binding arbitration before a panel of three arbitrators who recently awarded the client the sum of $3,825,450.00.