Chase Tower owner settles case with woman after noting criminal record

CHARLESTON – A Dunbar woman who says she fell down the stairs of Charleston’s Chase Tower has settled her lawsuit against the company that owns it.

Christine Shipley alleged that in April 23 she was part of a cleaning crew working in the tower when she slipped on a poorly maintained stairwell. After he case was removed to federal court in October, an order dismissing the case was entered Feb. 28.

The order notes that a settlement has been reached with 707 Virginia Street, LLC, which replaced Nightingale Realty as the defendant in September.

Shipley alleged the rubber grips on the stairwell had previously been painted over. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

“The harm was foreseeable,” the complaint says.

In response, 707 Virginia Street filed a third-party complaint against Winans Sanitary Supply Company in October. It says the contract between the two was supposed to protect it from frivolous lawsuits.

707 Virginia Street said Winans never should have hired Shipley.

“The plaintiff has an extensive criminal history with misdemeanor and felony convictions, involving crimes of dishonesty, moral turpitude and violence against both real property and people, which resulted in her being incarcerated in prison for in excess of 12 years,” the company said.

“The publicly available criminal records also have the probation records, assessments and reports which detail a long history of addiction to alcohol and illegal drugs, and admissions from the plaintiff that she lost every job she ever had as a result of her addiction to drugs and alcohol, as well as the plaintiff’s admissions that she had often been under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs while on the job prior to her being hired by Winans…”

Mugshots.com shows Shipley was first convicted of burglary by breaking and entering in Marion County in 1996 and then burglary in Boone County in 2000.

From the West Virginia Record: Reach John O’Brien at jobrienwv@gmail.com.