According to authorities, a 7-year-old girl suffered head trauma when a gate at her apartment complex fell, trapping her. The young girl’s skull was crushed in the incident and she was killed. Witnesses to the incident stated that she was swinging on the gate being pushed by some other children. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the apartment complex and its management.
The suit alleges that the negligent property management and property owners failed to maintain the premises by not adequately maintaining the property, correcting dangerous conditions, warning residents of possible dangers and implementing inspection procedures to identify and correct dangerous conditions.
New York apartment dwellers that may be living on a property with potentially unsafe conditions need to know that property owners and managers have a duty to provide and maintain a reasonably safe premise for residents and visitors. In fact, legal counsel in the above case noted that the accident was reasonably foreseeable and the apartment complex owed a duty to exercise reasonable care.
A negligent property owner or manager who fails to keeps their property in a reasonably safe condition may be held liable for accidents and injuries that happen on their premises. In the case of this 7-year-old girl, it is possible that the property owners and/or managers should have checked the gate in order to ensure that it did not pose a safety hazard to tenants and visitors.
A person injured due to the negligence or failure of a property owner to maintain its premises may be able to recover damages such as medical expenses for injuries, lost wages and more. Everyone deserves to live and raise their children in a safe environment. Property owners are responsible for providing safe homes to their residents.
Source:
- Tampa Bay Times, “Family of girl crushed by Tampa apartment gate files wrongful-death suit,” Robbyn Mitchell, Oct 4, 2012
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