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William Henry PhD – Perspectives – Architect’s REAL Viewpoint

Slip or Trip and Fall Cases Can Yield Multi Million Dollar Settlements

By William Henry, PhD

It may come as a surprise to many that a slight defect in a sidewalk could result in a multi million dollar settlement by your local government to the injured party. Yet a recent accident on a public sidewalk outside of a New York City Hospital yielded the victim a settlement of 2.25 million dollars. The City preferred to settle this claim rather than risk exposure to a larger award by a jury who could empathize with the victim’s plight. Since we at RGA are actively involved as forensic design experts, we are asked on occasion to render opinions about code violations and how they may or may not have contributed to the alleged slip/trip and fall. After much research, we have come to the opinion that guidelines associated with the ADA do in fact pertain to public sidewalks. Specifically, sidewalks are construed as accessible routes to accommodate the protected class known as those challenged with disabilities.

A little known fact is that 57 million Americans have some sort of disability which includes not only ambulatory, but also sight and hearing impairments. After reading the State Statutes of two large states, we are of the opinion that sidewalk design and construction should adhere to ADAG standards to not only accommodate the disabled, but to protect the health, safety and welfare of the general public. What this means is that vertical separations in concrete that are over ¼ inch could be construed as a deficiency as defined by ADA guidelines. Also, if the state where the accident occurred has adopted ADAG and incorporated it into State building codes via state statute then such a deficiency could be construed as a code violation. In such a locality, if a victim has tripped on a vertical rise in the concrete of greater than ¼ inch without a bevel, then our opinion could well be that the ADA code violation directly attributed to the accident. With this opinion, a settlement and/or verdict in favor of the Plaintiff could become compelling and lead to a larger award.

Some State Statutes define Sidewalks as part of the ‘built environment’ because they are included as those parts of the physical environment “designed, constructed or altered by people”. It has been argued that the statutory text, legislative history, implementing regulations, and agency interpretation of Title ll of the ADA supports the conclusion that “services programs or activities” include public sidewalks. Further the issue of whether the ADAG guidelines apply to those who are not disabled seems to fall into the category that ADAG applies to the protection of the general public as well as the “disabled protected class”. Barrier removal is not merely an issue of convenience BUT an issue of civil rights AND public safety.

A recent relevant case that RGA was involved in referenced Illinois ACT 25 /2, “Environmental Barriers Act” which states in subsection (a) that public facilities (which should include sidewalks) that contain environmental barriers create a serious threat to the safety and welfare of ALL members of society BOTH in normal conditions and in the event of fire, panic, and other emergency. Therefore, eliminating environmental barriers is an object of serious public concern.

When victims slip and fall on sidewalks construed as accessible routes that have deficiencies as identified in ADAG, we will then reserve the right to opine whether in fact these deficiencies (and if adopted by local codes and ordinances –code violations) did or did not contribute to the slip and fall as the case may be. The fact that potentially all citizens are protected by ADAG guidelines opens the door for windfall settlements for slip & falls on public accessible routes.

William Henry PhD is the Principal in Charge of RGA-Design, LLC a full service architectural and interior design firm that has served as the architect of record for over 1,000 projects across the State of Florida (Registration number AA0003523). He has lectured and written widely on the above topic. His most recent publication is ‘Return of the Master Builder’ available on Amazon Kindle e Books. Henry’s contact information is whenry@rga-design.com; (813-226-2220 Ext204) or visit the company web site at www.rga-design .com or www.buildingdoctorfl.com.