New accident settlement costs city $30k

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

Another uneven sidewalk has forced the city to make a large payout to an accident victim.

Two months after the city paid $34,000 to a tourist who tripped on a sidewalk composed of uneven bricks, Key West City Commissioners approved a $30,000 settlement to Roseanne Woodruff, who sustained injuries after tripping over a broken sidewalk on 1st Street. Woodruff had just left the A-1 Beauty Salon on Feb. 10, 2012, when she tripped over a broken piece of sidewalk concrete that had been pushed up by tree roots. She struck her face on the tree and then fell to the ground, sustaining injuries to her face.

Assistant City Attorney Ron Ramsingh recommended the city settle the claim filed by Woodruff to avoid a potentially most costly lawsuit.

“The defect in the sidewalk is one where a jury would likely find is a dangerous condition since the exposed raised edge was higher than one inch… if a jury were to find in favor of Ms. Woodruff, an award can be expected in the neighborhood of $100,000,” Ramsingh wrote to the city commission.

Key West City officials have made several accident settlements in the past three months. In May the commission agreed to pay a total of $284,000 to settle two accident claims in order to avoid potentially more costly lawsuits. One of the claims involved a former city worker who suffered a job-related injury and the other a tourist who tripped over uneven bricks and fell onto a fence, impaling her cheek.

Those two settlements came about a month after city commissioners voted to pay $130,000 to a former city maintenance employee, Craig Allen, to settle a lawsuit over a work-related injury he suffered in 2012.

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