Hairdresser's Staircase Fall Leads to $10.4M Verdict, Setting Record for Ankle Injury Awards

On May 8, 2013, Aminata Kromah, a hairdresser in her early thirties, was descending the interior staircase of a 50-unit apartment building at 2265 Davidson Avenue in the Bronx when she slipped on a cracked step and fell five stairs. The staircase was inadequately lit, and the defective riser had gone unrepaired. The fall produced an open trimalleolar ankle fracture-dislocation: her fibula was obliterated, her deltoid ligaments were completely torn, and nearby nerves were damaged.

Kromah underwent open reduction internal fixation, with plates and screws stabilizing what remained of the joint, followed later by an arthroscopic synovectomy. The surgeries did not restore normal function. She developed post-traumatic arthritis and reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), a chronic pain condition with no cure that permanently ended her ability to work as a hairdresser. Because she lacked health insurance, her future medical costs were substantial.

At trial in Bronx Supreme Court before Judge James Hubert Jr., Marc Freund of Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman presented evidence that both defendants, building owner 2265 Davidson Realty LLC and property manager Langsam Property Services, knew or should have known of the staircase defect. The jury found both parties fully liable and apportioned fault equally between them. It awarded $9,000,000 for pain and suffering (split evenly between past and future), roughly $951,000 for lost earnings, and approximately $2.5 million for future medical expenses, bringing the total to $10.4 million.

On post-trial motion, Judge Hubert reduced the past pain-and-suffering component from $4,500,000 to $1,600,000, leaving the pain-and-suffering total at $6,100,000. The future pain-and-suffering award of $4,500,000 was left intact. A minor reduction was also applied to future medical expenses, removing the cost of a radiofrequency sympathectomy procedure that the court found speculative.

The First Department affirmed in February 2019, with a panel including Justices Renwick, Manzanet-Daniels, Oing, and Moulton upholding both the liability finding and the $6.1 million pain-and-suffering award. The court noted that the result was the largest pain-and-suffering award it had ever sustained in an ankle-injury case outside of amputation or traumatic brain injury, citing the severity of Kromah's RSD diagnosis and her permanent loss of livelihood.