KINGWOOD – A man is suing R&R Operations LLC after he claims he was injured from a fall from a rooftop.
Mark Ball, Sheri Ball, Shorthorns LLC and Maine Crossings LLC were also named as defendants in the suit.
On Dec. 14, the defendants in the suit filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit, citing improper venue. The court ordered that the case be transferred to Preston Circuit Court from Monongalia Circuit Court.
On March 16, Mark Ball, the owner/possessor of Maine Crossings, invited Harry C. Powell onto the property to remove materials from part of the buildings of the business known as Shorthorns, according to a complaint originally filed in October in Monongalia Circuit Court and removed to Preston Circuit Court.
Powell claims Mark Ball indicated that time was of the essence when advising him to remove the materials and he began the following day.
While on the roof of Shorthorns, Powell sidestepped a large hole in the roof and fell approximately 15 feet to the concrete below, according to the suit.
Powell claims the defendants did not provide him with any type of fall arrest system, despite the fact that he was well more than four feet off of the ground and he sustained life-threatening injuries in the fall and was taken via helicopter to Ruby Memorial Hospital.
The plaintiff’s injuries are permanent and debilitating, according to the suit, and at point after the fall, he had to be resuscitated.
Powell claims the weather was misting on the day of the accident, the roof was not dry and there was at least one large hole.
The defendants should have foreseen that Powell could and would fall from the defective and slippery roof and that such a fall could and would result in life-threatening injuries, according to the suit.
Powell claims the defendants had a duty to guard against injury and breached that duty.
The plaintiff sustained medical expenses in the amount of $204,089.80, according to the suit.
Powell claims the defendants were negligent and breached their various duties owed to him by failing to provide him with a safe environment, failing to provide him with a fall arrest system and were careless, reckless and negligent in other ways.
Powell is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is being represented by Kimberly A. Fitzwater.
The defendants are represented by Phillip M. Magro, Patrick J. Nooney and David J. Straface.
Preston Circuit Court case number: 16-C-17