Jurors in Madison County reached a verdict in favor of an East Alton resident who was sued by his guest alleging she fell down the stairs due to a faulty handrail.
The two-day trial began Jan. 8 in Circuit Judge Sarah Smith’s courtroom. On Jan. 9, jurors returned a verdict in favor of defendant Mike Nagel and against plaintiff Leslie Carpunky.
Carpunky had asked for $291,000 in damages, including $44,673 in medical bills.
She was represented at trial by attorney Lanny Darr of Darr Law Offices in Alton.
Nagel was represented by attorney John Cunningham of Brown & James in Belleville.
Carpunky filed her complaint on Jan. 6, 2021, against Nagel and his girlfriend, Kelly Crawford. Crawford was later voluntarily dismissed on April 15, 2021, by agreement of the parties.
According to her complaint, Carpunky claimed she was at the defendant’s home in East Alton for a social visit on June 21, 2020. She alleged the property had an unsecured staircase handrail; and while she was walking down the stairs, she grabbed the handrail, tripped and fell down the staircase when the handrail allegedly came loose. As a result, Carpunky fractured her right ankle, which required surgery to repair, the suit states.
Carpunky alleged Nagel failed to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition, failed to adequately secure the staircase handrail, failed to provide safe ingress and egress and failed to warn Carpunky of the unsecured handrail.
Nagel answered the complaint on March 12, 2021, denying liability. In his affirmative defenses, he argued that Carpunky’s alleged injuries were caused by her own negligence in failing to keep a careful lookout of where she was walking, failing to avoid injury, failing to exercise ordinary care for her own safety, and failing to hold the guardrail while walking on the stairs.
Nagel also filed a motion for summary judgment in January 2022, which was later denied.
In his motion, Nagel argued that the “plaintiff has no evidence that there was any patent condition, or that there was a latent condition which defendant was aware of or would have been made aware of upon proper inspection.”
He explained that he was at the R & L Sports Bar in East Alton when Carpunky saw him there. They conversed briefly about Crawford and then discussed Carpunky visiting with the defendants at Nagel’s home. He alleges the plaintiff consumed alcohol at the bar, including shots of fireball whiskey and whiteclaw hard seltzers, before driving to Nagel’s home.
Nagel claimed Carpunky, who was wearing flip flop sandals, went up the stairs to the bedroom where Crawford was located, visited with her for a “little bit” and then began descending the stairs to leave. That’s when she fell.