Governmental entities are also responsible for keeping their stairways just as any other area of property in a safe condition, which again includes inspecting and figuring out if there are any problems and responding to citizen complaints.
I had a case recently where an elderly woman who was in a band, she was a musician, fell down a set of stairs that was known not to comply with the code. They knew it. They knew this was a problem. They knew they had to fix it, but they just didn’t do anything about it. And as a consequence, this woman broke her right arm and she sustained a significant nerve injury that caused her to have to give up music for the rest of her life.
Now, imagine what that means when the thing that brings you the most joy in your life is taken away from you and the government turns to you and says, “Well, that’s too bad. That’s your problem. You should be watching where you’re going.”
That’s not the way the world works. If the government knows that something is dangerous, they need to take care of it. And we make sure they do.
