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MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Remembering 9-11

September 11th was a tragic day for Phyllis C. Brown of St. Clair County.

On that day she allegedly tripped over a Charter Communications cable in her backyard and her life was upended.

Perhaps you were thinking about another day--the day of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 New Yorkers?

No, we're talking about the alleged harm done to Phyllis C. Brown exactly four years later.

On September 11, 2005, Phyllis was walking in the security of her own yard when she suddenly tripped over a Charter Communications cable allegedly left unburied after a recent installation. According to Phyllis, the fall left her sick, sore, lame, disordered, and disabled. She received extensive injuries to her shoulders, knees and legs and experienced sustained pain and suffering and emotional damage. There were medical costs, too, and wages lost.

Brown filed a lawsuit against Charter Communications Entertainment in St. Clair County Circuit Court on September 14, 2009, eight years and 72 hours after the horrible day that will live in infamy. She is seeking a judgment of more than $100,000, plus costs. Representing Phyllis is the estimable David C. Nelson of Nelson and Nelson in Belleville, a sensitive barrister apparently affected by her suffering.

We don't know how it strikes you, but it seems that Phyllis' reaction to her alleged injury lacks a sense of perspective or proportion.

Maybe she did trip over the cable in her yard. Maybe it wasn't buried properly. Maybe she did get a few bruises and abrasions. But disability and emotional damage? And $100,000 to relieve her distress? That seems a bit much.

How ironic that the incident should have occurred on the date associated with one of the greatest tragedies in American history. A trip-and-fall lawsuit is not much of a tribute.

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