BELLEVILLE — A St. Clair County woman has filed a lawsuit against the East St. Louis Housing Authority, alleging she was injured on housing authority property at a low-income apartment complex in Centreville.
In her three-page lawsuit filed July 9 in St. Clair County Circuit Court, Jacqueline Culley alleges she was injured when she tripped on a carpet or mat at the entrance of the main office of Phoenix Courts in Centreville "and fell with great force onto the ground." Culley's lawsuit gives two dates for the fall, first July 16, 2019, and then, two pages later, July 16, 2018. The first date apparently is a typo.
The lawsuit gives the same time, about 9:30 a.m., for both dates.
Culley says she was "severely and permanently injured" in the fall and that "numerous parts of her body and nervous system were injured, their functions impaired and their existing conditions aggravated," the lawsuit said.
East St. Louis Housing Authority Executive Director Mildred A. Motley declined comment about the lawsuit on behalf of the housing authority.
"We do not discuss active litigation," Motley said in an email to the Record.
The East St. Louis Housing Authority is a municipal corporation formed by and subject to the Illinois Housing Act. The authority's housing operations department manages more than 2,000 low-income housing units throughout the area, single-family, high-rise, and row-house units, according to information on the housing authority's website. This housing operations department "also takes care of fleet maintenance, grounds care, procurement, and maintenance," the website said.
Phoenix Courts is on Marybelle Avenue in Centerville.
Culley alleges she "was an invited guest and/or resident" at Phoenix Courts at the time of her alleged fall.
The housing authority "was then and there under the duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of its residents and their guests, including the plaintiff," the lawsuit said. "That the defendant, by and through its agents, servants and/or employees was then and there guilty of one or more" acts or omissions of negligence.
In her lawsuit, Culley argues that the housing authority "voluntarily undertook to provide for the protection of persons lawfully on the property" owned by the authority, "including providing safe housing and property for such persons."
Culley alleges the housing authority 'negligently and carelessly failed to maintain and/or keep the premises in a safe and property condition when it knew or should have known that the carpet/mat was worn, twisted or curled."
The housing authority also "negligently and carelessly failed to warn" Culley about the dangerous condition existing on the premises," the lawsuit said. The lawsuit also alleges the housing authority "negligently and carelessly" failed to maintain its premises and failed to inspect the premises.
Culley says she has suffered and will continue to suffer physical and mental pain and anguish and that she already has incurred medical debts and will continue to do so, according to the lawsuit. She seeks more than $50,000 in damages, plus costs.
The lawsuit was filed on Culley's behalf by attorney John E. Lee of AuBuchon & Lee in Belleville.
St. Clair County case number 19-L-485