Property owners, such as an apartment complex or other commercial properties, bear significant liability when you are injured on their property due to negligence on the part of the property owner. Our Southern California personal injury attorneys are experienced in handling cases against property owners.
Early this morning, a young San Diego woman fell off a roof at the Paseo Place Apartments near SDSU in the early morning hours on November 7, 2014. The woman fell nearly 60 feet (5 stories) from the roof of an apartment complex near the campus of San Diego State University at the 5000 block of Lindo Paseo. The housing complex is north of Montezuma Road and west of Campanile Drive near the edge of the SDSU campus.
Police initially reported from the scene that the victim was critically injured as a result of the fall. Tragically, this young woman, who Fox San Diego reports as a 19 year old student at SDSU, succumb to her injuries and passed away this morning after being transported to Mercy Hospital. Our prayers are with this woman’s family, friends, and fellow SDSU students.
A lieutenant with the San Diego Police told NBC 7 San Diego that the woman was with a friend up on the roof when it appears the woman got a little too close to the edge of the building and fell. Officials say alcohol was involved in the incident.
The fact that alcohol may have played a factor in this roof fall accident does not automatically absolve the owner of the Apartment building of liability for premise liability or responsibility for this young woman’s serious injuries. According to reports, there was a large party in the apartment complex prior to this accident. Other residents in the building have reported there are many parties in this apartment complex. The owner’s of this building knew or should have known there were parties in this complex and possible underage drinking taking place due to 1) its close proximity to San Diego State; 2) the age of the tenants (college students) and 3) management observing parties taking place at their facility. The Paseo Place apartment complex also should have anticipated that underage drinking might take place in their building and taken precaution to limit such activity. Additionally, the apartment complex should have taken extra precaution in making sure the roof of the building was not readily accessible to the tenants of the building. Had the owner of the apartment building taken this simple precaution of locking access to the roof of this five story building then this young woman would have never been on the roof. Tragically, it appears the roof was readily accessible.
Another person that may bear responsibility in this tragic accident is the person or company that provided this underage woman alcohol because the underage minor that fell off the roof was intoxicated and her intoxication may have contributed to the incident as she allegedly lost her balance while on the roof.
If you or your loved one was injured of killed in an accident that took place on a commercial property or in an apartment complex our attorneys can help. There are many factors in establishing a premise liability case and our San Diego personal injury attorneys are experienced in this area. We have work with experts to evaluate liability and build a case even where there may fault on the part of the injured person.
Contact Martinez & Schill LLP to discuss your case – San Diego: 619-512-5995 or Riverside: 951-200-4630.