$752,600 Jury Verdict for Injuries to Delivery Person Who Fell Into Window Well

Alice McKee, 62, worked as a pharmaceutical delivery person. She went to the Wesley Manor Nursing Home campus to make a midnight delivery of medicine. She was unable to enter the building. After she called the nurse’s station and did not receive an answer, McKee walked over the building’s side lawn, attempting to reach a window within sight of the nurse’s station.

McKee climbed over some landscaping and unknowingly stepped into a window well, falling six feet into a cement pit.

She suffered a fractured femur, which has left her with a limp. She is unable to stand or sit for any length of time.

McKee, whose worker’s compensation medical payments totaled $185,000, has not returned to work where she had been earning $18,000 per year.

McKee sued Wesley Manor Inc., the owner of the nursing home, alleging it chose not to have an effective communication system for deliveries and decided not to place a grate over a railing around the window well. McKee also asserted that the landscaping concealed the hazard posed by the open window well.

The defendant nursing home argued that McKee should have waited for the nurses or called them again. Additionally, the defendant argued that it could not have anticipated that anyone would approach the window well, which did not require a protective covering under applicable building codes.

The jury signed a verdict for approximately $752,600 but found that McKee was 20% responsible for her own injuries.

The attorneys successfully handling this case were Kent Winingham and D. Bruce Kehoe.

McKee v. Wesley Manor, Inc., No. 12C01-1709-CT-759 (Ind. Cir. Ct. Clinton County).

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling premises liability lawsuits, wrongful death cases, nursing home negligence cases, catastrophic injury lawsuits, truck accident lawsuits and motorcycle accidents for individuals, families and loved ones who have been injured, harmed or killed by the carelessness or negligence of another for more than 40 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Western Springs, Willow Springs, Brookfield, Lisle, Lincolnshire, North Riverside, Cicero, Joliet, Bensenville, Addison, Villa Park, Carol Stream, Lake Zurich, Morton Grove, Northfield, Vernon Hills, Waukegan, Chicago (West Rogers Park, Bucktown, Andersonville, West Ridge, Near West Side, Hyde Park, Wrigleyville, East Side, Hegewisch, Gage Park, Brighton Park, Little Village, West Garfield Park, Irving Park, Jefferson Park, Edgewater), Lincolnwood, Lansing, Skokie, Prospect Heights, Hoffman Estates, Palatine and Palos Hills, Ill.

Robert D. Kreisman has been an active member of the Illinois and Missouri bars since 1976.