ELIZABETH – An Elizabeth woman is suing the city over injuries she claims she sustained when she fell through an unsecured water meter cover.
Wanda L. Childers filed a lawsuit Nov. 18 in Wirt Circuit Court against the city of Elizabeth, alleging negligence.
On June 8, 2014, the suit states, Childers was walking in a grassy area adjacent to her property at 784 Hannaman Lane in Elizabeth.
According to the suit, Childers stepped on a city-owned water meter cover that was not secured to the water meter housing. The cover flipped, and Childers fell into the water meter housing, struck the water meter, and sustained bodily injuries.
The suit states the city was negligent in failing to exercise due care, failing to maintain the water meter cover and water meter in a reasonably safe condition, failing to warn of non-obvious dangers, failing to make reasonable inspections to discover dangerous conditions and to make those conditions safe, and other negligent acts or omissions.
As a result, Childers required emergency medical treatment and has incurred medical expenses. She has also sustained inconvenience, annoyance, humiliation, embarrassment, mental and emotional distress, mental anguish and aggravation of preexisting medical conditions.
Childers seeks compensatory, general, and special damages, interests, attorney fees, and costs of the suit. She is represented by attorneys Bruce M. White and Jay W. Gerber Jr. of the Law Office of Bruce M. White in Parkersburg. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Robert A. Waters.
Wirt Circuit Court Case number 15-C-26