A roof collapsed at a Family Dollar store in Kansas City, Missouri (KCTV).
A woman has initiated legal action against Family Dollar following the collapse of a store’s roof in Missouri, which led to the death of a man and caused severe injuries to her and others present, she asserts.
Tammy Martin filed a lawsuit on Friday targeting Family Dollar Stores of Missouri, LLC, Family Dollar, Inc., and Arthur Fels Company, the proprietor of the building where the store is located. She accuses these parties of negligence contributing to the tragic event.
According to the lawsuit, Martin and other patrons were inside the Kansas City establishment on July 27, when the roof unexpectedly gave way, crashing down “directly onto Plaintiff, causing severe harm,” the suit detailed.
“The substantial debris that landed on Plaintiff resulted in serious and lasting injuries affecting her entire body, including but not limited to her head, face, neck, back, spine, pelvis, arms, hands, and legs,” the lawsuit claims.
The suit points to an incident in 2016 as the primary cause of the collapse, citing a car accident that damaged a support pillar at the building’s front. The plaintiffs’ attorneys allege this structural component was never repaired.
Per the suit, store operators were told before the roof collapse that it “looked as if it was going to fall.”
“Defendants knew or should have known The Store, including the roof, was not reasonably safe,” the lawsuit said.
Due to the failure to address or assess the roof’s condition, the store was left “with an unreasonably hazardous, dangerous, or misleading condition — specifically, a building lacking structural integrity and a sagging roof.”
Martin is asking for more than $25,000.
A 58-year-old man died in the roof collapse. According to local Fox affiliate KCTV, a property violation report was filed with the Kansas City code enforcement division a mere two days before the fatal incident, saying the building was slowly “tilting.”
Martin’s attorney James Stigall told the Kansas City Star that the incident was avoidable.
“Based on our preliminary investigation, it appears Family Dollar and the property owner knew the building was not structurally safe and presented a serious danger to customers and the general public,” he said in a statement to the newspaper.
The Kansas City Police Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are still investigating the incident.
