Family Gets $2.7M Settlement After Fatal Lakeview Porch Collapse
CHICAGO (STMW) - A building management company has agreed to pay $2.7 million to the family of a 25-year-old man who fell three stories to his death from a Lakeview neighborhood porch three years ago.
It happened as Michael F. Doyle attended a 2007 New Year's Eve party with his college buddies from the University of Dayton at an apartment in the 3100 block of North Clark Street. Police said Doyle was trying to adjust a chair on the porch when he "fell through the porch rail."
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On Monday, attorneys Corboy & Demetrio announced Kenard Management Corporation (KMC) has agreed to pay $2.7 million to Doyle's family, alleging he suffered fatal injuries "as a result of defective metal deck railings."
Through evidence discovery and motions, it was learned that almost six months prior to the incident, KMC's liability insurance carrier warned the company that the large railing gap -- 2 foot by 8 -- should be closed with a wire mesh, a release from attorneys said.
KMC had received bids to repair the defect but had not acted on them.
According to the plaintiff's experts, the proposed work would have prevented Doyle from falling through the porch railing system, the release said.
Although the violations were serious enough to trigger a seal after Doyle's death and a Housing Court lawsuit against the Kenard Corp., the building's owner and city officials denied unsafe conditions caused Doyle's death.
"When the individual fell off the porch, there wasn't anything that broke or gave way. . . . The accident was related to him falling off the porch and through the railing," said Buildings Department spokesman Peter Scales at the time.
Nevertheless, Scales said, "The porch system had rotted columns and inadequate bolts in several places along the ledger boards, which is essentially where it attaches to the building. Because of the serious code violations we found, the porches can't be used by the tenants except for emergencies until these repairs to the columns and bolts are made."
On June 29, 2003, a porch collapse in Lincoln Park killed 13 young partygoers. In the wake of that accident, the city's porch standards were overhauled, in part to prohibit the kind of horizontal railing design in place at the Lakeview building where Doyle died.
Family members described Doyle as a high school basketball player and sports junkie who grew up in Cincinnati, excelled in school and moved to Chicago with a large group of college friends. He worked for the futures trading firm Lind-Waldock.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
