Premises Liability

For six months, the elevator in a Los Angeles apartment building sat broken. One of the tenants on the third floor was partially paralyzed and used a wheelchair. His family had asked management for a ground floor unit more than once. When he had to get to a medical appointment, the only way down was the stairs. He fell. The Law Offices of Adrianos Facchetti sued for negligence and for violations of the federal Fair Housing Act, and the case settled for $1,000,000.

Case Overview

Our client lived on the third floor of an apartment building. An earlier stroke had left him partially paralyzed on one side, and he relied on a wheelchair most of the time. That made the building’s elevator his only safe way in and out. When it broke down and stayed broken for about six months, he was effectively trapped in his own home.

The Requests Management Ignored

His family asked the building, in person and in writing, to move him to a ground floor unit. Under the Fair Housing Act, a landlord has to make reasonable accommodations for a tenant with a disability. That means actually talking with the tenant about what he needs and what can be done, a back and forth the law calls the interactive process. Management never did it. The requests went nowhere, the elevator stayed out of service, and he stayed on the third floor.

The Fall on the Stairs

He needed to see a doctor, and there was no other way down. His caregiver walked backward down the staircase in front of him, one hand on his stomach and one on his ribs, while he held the rail and took the steps one at a time. Partway down, his legs gave out. He fell forward and struck his head on the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Eight days later, he suffered a stroke.

The Defense Fought Back

We filed the case in federal court, alleging negligence and Fair Housing Act violations. The defense contested liability and tried to minimize his injuries. Their side also reached out directly to family members to ask about his transfer requests. Getting basic facts took work: the elevator repair crew would not even say what company they worked for, so we had to subpoena the maintenance records.

He asked to be moved to the ground floor. Instead, he was left on the third floor with a broken elevator and a staircase.

The core of the Fair Housing Act claim

What Discovery Uncovered

As the case moved through discovery, the building manager’s story started to come apart. To get an elevator parts supplier to hurry up, he had told them there had already been a fall in the building. There hadn’t been. It was one of many times we saw him say whatever it took to get what he wanted. Then came his deposition. We brought out that the manager was a convicted felon, which came as a complete surprise to the defense team. When we asked about reports that he had been offering drugs to tenants, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, over and over again. Shortly after the deposition, the case settled.

Question after question, the building manager answered the same way: he took the Fifth.

From the manager’s deposition

The $1,000,000 Result

The case resolved for $1,000,000. The result reflected the seriousness of his injuries, the months of ignored accommodation requests, and the credibility problems the defense could no longer explain away in front of a jury. You can also review more case results from the firm.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different, and the value of a case depends on its specific facts, injuries, insurance coverage, and evidence.