Plaintiffs' attorney wants jury to see basement steps at Cape courthouse

The attorney for a Cape Girardeau woman, who was injured after falling down the basement stairs at the Common Pleas Courthouse in 2013, wants a Stoddard County jury to inspect the condition of the stairs when the personal-injury case goes to trial.

At the same time, the city of Cape Girardeau -- one of three governmental defendants in the case -- contended Wednesday in a court filing that it was not in charge of maintaining the courthouse and should not be sued.

A trial date could be set at a hearing next month, according to court records.

Attorney D. Matthew Edwards, who represents Pamela Allen, who fell down the stairs, and her husband Kelly, filed a motion in Stoddard County Circuit Court last week, asking Judge Stephen Mitchell to allow a jury to be transported to the Cape Girardeau courthouse, with the plaintiffs paying the cost. Edwards wrote that transportation could be arranged through "Stoddard County Transit or by some other means prescribed by the court."

In a companion motion filed at the same time, Edwards requested that the defendants in the case -- the city and county of Cape Girardeau and the state's 32nd Judicial Circuit -- be required to "preserve and prevent alteration" of the basement steps until the jury has an opportunity to inspect the site.

The Allens filed the lawsuit in March 2016 in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court. In May 2016, the case was moved to Stoddard County on a change of venue.

Edwards, the plaintiffs' attorney, said in the motions that "one of the factual issues in dispute" is whether the basement stairs "were in a dangerous condition."

Edwards wrote, "While it is generally public policy to encourage an owner to improve, fix or repair the premises following an injury, nearly four and one-half years have elapsed since the date of the injury and no improvements, modifications or repairs have been made."

The suit, which seeks damages, was originally filed against Cape Girardeau County government, but subsequently was expanded to include the city of Cape Girardeau and the state of Missouri as defendants.

On Wednesday, the attorney for the city of Cape Girardeau filed a motion seeking summary judgment in favor of the city.

The attorney, Al Spradling III, argued in the motion that the stairs "are not in a defective or dangerous condition and the city is entitled to sovereign immunity."

Spradling wrote in an accompanying memorandum that the city and county of Cape Girardeau jointly own the Common Pleas Courthouse. Built in 1854, the building is now "exclusively used" by the circuit court system, he said.

Spradling said that under a September 1979 agreement between Cape Girardeau County and the city, the county "is responsible for all the expenses" associated with repairs, remodeling and maintenance of both the interior and exterior of the courthouse.

"The city has not paid any expense associated with the Common Pleas Courthouse" or used or controlled the courthouse since September 1979, according to Spradling.

He wrote in the memorandum that the city cannot be sued "for a dangerous condition which exists on property under the control of another public entity."

According to the lawsuit, Pamela Allen worked as a processor for a real estate title company and was seeking to retrieve a court file in the basement when she slipped and fell while going down the stairs.

The suit alleges Allen was seriously injured, and incurred more than $130,000 in expenses for medical care and treatment.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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