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Fall From Steps

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cassie1247

Guest
What is the name of your state?Michigan
I was at someone elses home and went in the basement to talk to one of the teens there and the handrail broke as I was coming up the stairs, I suffered a permanent injury.
Before I went down the stairs .the woman that rents the home warned me about a lite out over the steps, we both went to the top of the steps, looked down, and I could see clearly ( as there was lite at the bottom)
I told her its fine I can see and started down.
I made it down the steps with no problem , on my way back up when I reached the point where the handrail was in the wall , I reached for the handrail , it came out of the wall, causing me to lose my balance stumble sideways and back ,and off the other side of the steps.
Now my lawyer is telling me something about the open and obvious.
And I do have an understanding of that defense.
My question is - in what way was the lite responible for the handrail coming out of the wall, and how would a reasonable person know a handrail might not be secure unless they inspected it, and why would a reasonable person do that?
I don't feel a handrail not being secure in the wall is open and obvious to anyone.
I had never been down the steps before as I'm not in the habit of going in a persons basement.
My lawyer has hinted at they may try to say the stairs were not well lit so I missed a step ,and when I did iI grabbed for the handrail n PULLED it out of the wall.
I find that very funny.
#1 I am not a big woman
#2 Are handrails supposed to be that weak?
The other thing is I was going UP the steps not down , so if it were just in my step ( and not the fact I lost balance) I would have fell flat on my legs and chin , in other words forward.
While going up and forward one foot would have already been rested on a step, if my other missed a step ,it would have went down throwing me forward.
That didn't happen .
So what would be some questions I could ask my attorney?
There really is such a thing as trip and fall, step n fall, n slip and fall. And all are different then losing balance.
 
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You Are Guilty

Senior Member
You could ask him if the owners of the house have homeowners insurance (I'm guessing they don't and thus, there's no one to pay a settlement/judgment if a suit is filed).


You could also ask your attorney whether he knows of any PI lawyers in the area so you can go to one who will file a lawsuit for you if you don't like his answer to the first question.
 
C

cassie1247

Guest
Landlord Has Homeowners

Michigan
Well we are suing the landlord that owns the property and he has home owners insurance. But I don't understand how the open and obvious applies to the handrail.
 

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