OCEAN CITY — An elderly Philadelphia woman last week filed a $750,000 lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Town of Ocean City after allegedly falling from her wheelchair because of a defective rubber warning mat on a resort street corner.
According to the complaint, on June 16, 2012, the plaintiff, Oda Wendt, 89, of Philadelphia, arrived in Ocean City for her first-ever vacation in the resort. Around 7:50 p.m., Wendt and her family left their condominium to visit the Boardwalk and Wendt was being pushed in a wheelchair by her daughter, Astrid Seiger.
After visiting the Boardwalk, Wendt and her family were going back to their condo and attempted to cross Philadelphia Ave. at Worcester Street from east to west. According to the complaint, the daughter was pushing Wendt in the wheelchair when it struck one of the hard rubber warning mats on the handicap-accessible street corners.
“As Ms. Seiger was pushing the wheelchair up onto the handicap section of the sidewalk on the northeast corner of Worcester Street and Philadelphia Ave, the front wheel of the wheelchair struck a piece of the hard rubber warning mat partially attached to the ramp,” the complaint reads. “This motion caused the wheelchair to stop suddenly, causing the plaintiff to fall out of the wheelchair and sustain an open fracture to her left arm.”
On Aug. 20, Wendt, through her attorney, filed suit in U.S. District Court against the town of Ocean City seeking a combined $750,000 in damages on three counts including negligence, strict liability and a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, there is some question of liability. While the town owns and maintains the sidewalks in the resort, the State Highway Administration (SHA) installed the rubber warning mats after the town completed a comprehensive upgrade of the sidewalks to bring them into compliance with the ADA codes.
According to the complaint, in accordance with the Maryland Tort Claims Act, a notice of personal injury claim was filed with the Maryland Treasurer’s Office in October. However, the plaintiff received a response to the claim denying the state was responsible and designating the Town of Ocean City as the appropriate party. The suit asserts the town is responsible for maintaining safe access along its sidewalks for handicapped invitees to the resort.
“At the time of the incident, the wheelchair ramp warning mat had worn rubber torn off around the center and right of the ramp,” the complaint reads. “The rubber mat was not flat and uniform as required by the ADA. The defect or unsafe condition of the mat and ramp was such that it could or should have been discovered by the exercise of ordinary care by the defendants.”
In terms of the negligence count, the suit alleges the unsafe condition of the warning mat and sidewalk was caused by the town “failing to properly supervise the area in question so as to furnish a safe walkway free from hazards which were recognized or should have been recognized,” and “failing to warn the plaintiff of the dangerous, defective and unsafe condition of the walkway.”
As to the strict liability count, the suit alleges the town failed to comply with the laws of Maryland and Ocean City, asserting “as a direct and proximate cause of the defendants’ negligence, the plaintiff has suffered physical pain, mental anguish, lost wages, loss of enjoyment in participating in her normal daily and physical activities all through no fault of the plaintiff.”
The suit is also seeking with pre- and post-judgment costs and attorney fees and other relief deemed just, necessary and proper.