THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510190354
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: METRO BRIEFS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
A painter who fell through a trap door to the basement of Lafayette Towers Apartments in 1992 won a $1.5 million jury verdict Tuesday for her injuries.
The jury ruled against Towers Associates, which owns the Colonial Place apartment building.
The painter, Elizabeth A. Fowlkes of Norfolk, now 44, broke her jaw and nose, suffered a herniated disk and hurt her shoulders and neck in the accident on May 3, 1992, said her attorneys, Robert S. Cohen and Larry W. Shelton.
Fowlkes has undergone eight surgeries, run up $127,000 in medical bills, and will need $75,000 more in medical work, Cohen said. She can no longer work.
The lawsuit in Norfolk Circuit Court sought $2.7 million.
The accident happened, Cohen said, in the maintenance supervisor's office when Fowlkes arrived to get orders on which apartments to paint. A trap door in the floor was opened 20 minutes earlier and not properly closed, Fowlkes claimed. She fell 6 to 10 feet to the basement.
The jury deliberated two hours after a four-day trial.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT by CNB