The family of a woman who died in a wheelchair accident has filed a California wrongful death lawsuit against MDM Construction, Five K, and the City of Simi Valley. Winnie Young suffered traumatic brain injuries and a heart attack after she fell off her wheelchair at a Del Taco restaurant on March 12, 2008.
According to the family's California wrongful death complaint, Young's son was pushing her wheelchair when she fell from the chair because of a hazardous drop off and the absence of safety rails on the ramp that connects the restaurant to the parking lot. The rails weren't added until after Young's wheelchair ramp accident.
The lawsuit contends that Young's injuries caused her to fall into a coma for over a week. Her family says that the reason she died this year was that she never fully recovered from her wheelchair accident injuries. Their California premises liability complaint accuse the restaurant of failing to comply with safety codes when building the ramp and that this made it hard for Young's son to safely push his mother's wheelchair while on the ramp. The family is suing the City of Simi Valley because it approved the defective ramp design and let the restaurant open even with the safety violations.
Premises Liability
In California, personal injury victims and the loved ones of those that died because a property owner or manager breached his or her duty by allowing a dangerous or hazardous condition to exist on a premise may be entitled to Orange County, California premises liability compensation or wrongful death recovery.
Common causes of premises liability cases include:
Defective conditions: When a defect that exists on the property, or on a product, machine, or other item on the premise, causes injury or death and the property owner failed to warn of the defect or hazard and should have repaired the defect but did not do so.
Slip and Fall: When a flaw in the floor, stairs, or a ramp on the property, or a liquid substance or another object that has been left on the premise, results in a slip/trip and fall accident.
Inadequate Maintenance: When failure to make repairs or properly maintain a premise results in injury or death.
Inadequate Security: A visitor, patron, or tenant on the premise becomes the victim of a crime due to inadequate security measures.
Falling Merchandise: Items that are unsafely stacked on shelves, such as in groceries and department stores, can be a premises liability hazard if they fall on a patron.
California Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Over Wheelchair Accident, About Lawsuits, May 29, 2009
Premises Liability, Justia
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