Case at a glance
- Recovery: $325,000 Settlement
- Injury: Fractured right femur requiring traction, pins and a rod
- Practice: Personal Injury
- Attorney: Brian Beckcom
A fall during a visit to an apartment complex
On December 7, 2004, Lillyanna and her mother went to visit a friend at a Houston apartment complex. While her mother was in a first-floor apartment, Lillyanna climbed the outside stairs to the second floor.
She went beneath or through the balcony railing and fell about six feet onto a pebble-covered surface. Her mother took her to an emergency room.
A fractured thighbone required hospital treatment
The fall fractured Lillyanna’s right femur. Doctors placed pins and a rod in her leg, and she was put in traction.
The pins were removed during her initial hospital stay. The rod remained in place for several months before it was removed.
The dispute over the railing gaps
Lillyanna’s mother brought a premises-liability claim on her own behalf and for her daughter. The claim alleged that gaps in the railing measured about seven inches, exceeding a four-inch limit in the Houston Building Code, and created an unreasonable danger.
The property owner disputed both the condition and the application of the code. It argued that Lillyanna had crawled underneath the railing, that the space beneath it was not governed by the cited rule and that the building’s age exempted it from the newer requirement. The owner also raised a defense concerning parental supervision.
A $325,000 settlement with the property owner
The property owner, Delta I Investments, agreed to pay $325,000 through its insurer to settle the case.
The agreement resolved the claims arising from Lillyanna’s fall and the leg injury that required hospital treatment and later removal of the rod.
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