Confidential
Settlement – $249,000Court
L.A. Superior Van Nuys
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Maro Burunsuzyan
(Law Offices of Maro Burunsuzyan)
Defendant
Maria H. Skinner
(Mark R. Weiner & Associates)
Facts
On Aug. 2, 2002, at approximately 9 p.m., the plaintiff, Astgik Nadiryan, 59, fell while traversing the parking lot area of an apartment building owned by the defendants and located at 14218 Sylvan Street in Encino. Astgik Nadiryan and her husband, the plaintiff Akop Emirzyan, had been tenants in the building since 1997. The laundry room at the apartment complex is separated from the apartment building itself, requiring tenants to cross the parking lot area as access to, and egress from, the laundry room. There is no reasonably accessible walkway available to tenants who must walk across the parking lot to reach or depart the laundry room. Then, as tenants approach the laundry room, it is necessary that they either walk between cars parked directly adjacent to the laundry room, or, if an empty parking space is available, cross the unoccupied parking space. At the time of the occurrence and prior thereto, the surface of the parking lot at the location where the plaintiff fell was substantially deteriorated and uneven, presenting a slope of 1.4 percent and a height deviation of 1 1.8 inches. As she was compelled to walk across an area intended for parked vehicles to reach the laundry room, the location of her fall was greasy, slippery and unstable. The only available light was provided by a single bulb attached to the ceiling of a carport above the parking lot. As the plaintiff approached the place of her fall, she stepped forward with her left foot which landed on an uneven and unstable area causing her body to be propelled forward where she landed on her knees, hands, chest and chin.
Settlement Discussions
WHAT WERE THE OFFERS AND DEMANDS PRIOR TO THE AGREED SETTLEMENT?
Specials in Evidence
$51,000
Injuries
The plaintiff fractured her left elbow requiring open reduction and internal fixation surgery. Medial meniscus tear of her left knee and contusion of both knees.
Other Information
The case was settled at a mediation with Leonard Saul Levy.
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