Janitor Falls Into Uncovered Electrical Trench in the Dark, Wins $537,365 Verdict

On the night of October 6, 2007, Rachel Bell was cleaning the boys' bathroom at Holabird Middle School in Dundalk when the building lost power. Her supervisor told her to go to the electrical closet and restore it. Bell grabbed a flashlight and walked in.

What she could not see was a trench that workers from Key Systems Inc., an electrical contractor, had cut into the closet floor earlier that day. They had left it open and unguarded, planning to return the following morning to continue the job. In the dark, Bell stepped into the opening and fell.

The injury was severe: her ankle fractured, and bone broke through the skin at the back of her foot. Surgery followed. Rehabilitation stretched over years. She was unable to return to work for three years and, when she did, had to transfer to a different school because the original site was not accessible to her.

Ronald Miller and Laura Zois of Miller and Zois LLC took the case to trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court. The central argument was straightforward: Key Systems controlled the work site, knew the trench was open and unprotected at the end of the shift, and did nothing to warn anyone that the hazard existed. Bell had no reason to expect a hole in the floor of a room she entered on her supervisor's orders.

The jury deliberated for fewer than three hours before returning a verdict of $537,365.18. The award broke down as $151,000 for medical bills, $62,000 for past lost wages, and $324,000 in non-economic damages. The non-economic portion was not subject to Maryland's statutory cap because the claim sounded in negligence against a private contractor, not a medical malpractice theory.

The case was filed in July 2010 and disposed of by jury verdict on August 17, 2011, after a three-day trial before Judge John Philip Miller.