The plaintiff sued the defendants for damages arising from a fall at the side entrance of a house. One of the defendants ran a dental practice at the premises, and the plaintiff attended as a patient. The defendants did not ever respond to the claim though properly served, and were noted in default. The plaintiff was 64 at the time of the fall and fractured the 5th metatarsal of her right foot. Following a one-day, undefended trial, Justice Morgan concluded that the step where the plaintiff fell was in a state of negligent construction and disrepair which caused the plaintiff to fall. He ordered the defendants to pay to the plaintiff: special damages in the sum of $30,940; lost wages in the sum of $2,040; and damages for pain and suffering in the sum of $35,000. He further ordered the defendants to pay the plaintiff’s costs in the sum of $20,000.
