A Harford County woman is due for a $155,000 payout from the city after a slip-and-fall she said was caused by a spot of broken asphalt in the Lexington Market parking lot.
Baltimore’s spending board, helmed by Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young, is scheduled to approve a settlement in that amount when it meets Wednesday morning.
In exchange, Aberdeen resident Dolly Davis, 75, will drop a lawsuit she filed against city officials and the historic downtown marketplace in June of last year, about 10 months after she injured herself.
Per minutes for this week’s Board of Estimates agenda, Davis was walking from a pay station in the Lexington Market parking lot on Aug. 18, 2017, when she “tripped on cracked/broken asphalt, landing on her outstretched arms.” She suffered “serious bodily injuries” in the fall, including a torn rotator cuff in her right shoulder that required surgery, the document says.
Court records indicate a civil trial was set to begin for the case July 19, but it was cancelled after city lawyers and Davis’ representation, White-Marsh based attorney Karmen Slezak, reached a settlement. The city’s spending board agenda says the deal would “resolve this litigation economically” and “avoid the expense, time, and uncertainties of further protracted litigation.”
Slezak did immediately respond to a message requesting comment; a paralegal in office said she was busy preparing for trial Monday afternoon.
Solicitor Andre Davis, the city’s top attorney and one of the spending board’s five members, said “both sides agree this was a fair and appropriate resolution of the claim.”
As for the haphazard patch of asphalt, he said “the parking lot was re-coated and the unsafe condition no longer exists.”
The market is due for a $30-40 million overhaul steered by R. House developers Seawall Development. Plans include building a brand new market on a parking lot just south of the current East Building and a new pedestrian plaza and park in place of the current Arcade building, plus an outdoor patio and a flat (that is, non-sloping) floor.
The company has said work on the buildings will begin in early 2020, and that the market will remain open during construction.
