HUNTINGTON – A woman is suing Huntington City Mission after she claims she fell from a bunk bed ladder and was injured.
John Doe Entity and John Doe Employee were also named as defendants in the suit.
On July 9, 2015, John Doe Employee was an employee of the City Mission and Sarah Miller was an overnight guest on the premises, according to a complaint filed July 10 in Cabell Circuit Court.
Miller claims she was sharing a room with three other women and John Doe Employee felt that she was not keeping the room sufficiently clean and he moved her to an observation room to sleep for the night as a penalty.
The observation room had bunk beds and she was assigned the top bunk, according to the suit.
Miller claims at the time she weighed approximately 290 pounds and told John Doe Employee that she might not be able to ascend and descend the ladder safely, but that the employee disregarded her concerns and told her it was her only option.
During the night, Miller needed to use the restroom and began to descend the ladder when the ladder became unattached from the bunch bed, causing her to fall on the concrete floor, which caused her great injuries, according to the suit.
Miller claims there was inadequate lighting to allow a person in the top bunk to be able to descend the ladder safely and there were inadequate systems to allow a person to descend safely from the top bunk during the night or early morning hours.
The defendants had a duty under common law to exercise reasonable care to protect Miller from injuries on the premises, according to the suit.
Miller is seeking compensatory damages. She is being represented by Matthew P. Stapleton and John Warren Stapleton of Stapleton Law Offices.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Christopher D. Chiles.
Cabell Circuit Court case number: 17-C-400