Lawsuit filed by victims of 2019 Grand Forks balcony collapse

Grand Forks Herald (ND)

Feb. 22--When a balcony at a Grand Forks apartment building collapsed in June, it sent five people plummeting four stories to the sidewalk below. Now, four of those people have filed a personal injury lawsuit against the building's owners as well as multiple contractor and architectural companies.

Steven Thompson, Amanda Seim, Elijah Hylden and Paul Anderson each filed separate lawsuits with the Grand Forks County District Court on Wednesday, Feb. 19. Each suit requests payment of $50,000 to cover economic and non-economic damages incurred in the balcony collapse.

The four defendants and one other victim were transported to the hospital around 2:30 a.m. June 8, after the 18-inch-wide balcony upon which they were standing collapsed. At the time of the incident, police, paramedics and firefighters were already at the scene for an unrelated call of a stuck elevator. The apartment is at 3880 Garden View Drive.

Those who were stuck in the elevator were uninjured and freed without incident. Those who fell from the balcony were reported by the Herald, soon after the mishap, to be in stable condition at the hospital. The extent of their injuries remains unclear still today.

A representative from the city building inspections department on Friday declined to comment on the investigation into the collapse, citing pending litigation. But in June, following the incident, city inspector Tom Franklin told the Herald the building may have had structural damage and some of the wood underneath the deck was rotten.

Apartment buildings are inspected every five years by the city, but metal sheeting would have prevented inspectors from seeing the structural problems on the balcony, Franklin said in June.

The lawsuit alleges the balcony did not have adequate siding and flashing materials to prevent water infiltration from occurring at the support points. The lawsuit also alleges contractors used untreated and inadequate wood supports, failed to have supporting structures made of materials other than wood, and made other errors that led to the balcony's collapse.

Grand Forks-based general contractor group Community Contractors Inc. and subcontractor A & L Siding and Home Improvement Center Inc., also of Grand Forks, are both named as defendants in the case. The suit also alleges that Grand Forks-based Icon Architectural Group failed to provide adequate engineering and design oversight, and developer Dakota Commercial & Development Co. was negligent in its design and oversight of the property.

A number of other defendants also are accused of failing to adequately ensure the balconies were maintained safely. Those businesses include Investors Management & Marketing Inc., the Minot-based property manager; EVI McEnroe Apartments, the Delaware-based property owner; and Edgewood Real Estate Investment Trust, the Grand Forks-based owner of EVI McEnroe Apartments.

All four plaintiffs are being represented by Fargo-based personal injury attorney James Hoy, who did not return calls for comment by this publication's press time.

According to the complaint, the defendants suffered "permanent and severe physical injuries" and will continue to suffer "grievous mental distress and anguish, bodily pain and discomfort, humiliation and loss of enjoyment of life." The plaintiffs also incurred significant medical bills and lost wages, and as a result of the balcony collapse, their earnings capacity will be damaged, the complaint says.

Hylden and Anderson both received hospital liens from Altru in the months following the balcony collapse.

Todd Zimmerman, a Fargo-based attorney who is representing EVI McEnroe Apartments, declined to comment.

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