Employee Spotlight October 2016

Join us in welcoming Alma to the Portner & Shure family. She recently joined us as a Spanish-speaking receptionist and legal assistant. Alma’s family is from El Salvador, however, she was born in Washington, D.C. Alma has three children, David, Joel, and Sarah. She also has a three year old Maltese/Yorkie mix named Baby. Outside of work, Alma loves to go hiking with her kids, watch movies, and listen to music. Alma is enjoying her time here at the firm so far and is excited to learn a lot. 

Berkeley Balcony Collapse Kills 6, Injures 7 Others at Apartment Complex

        Early Tuesday morning, in an apartment complex close to the University of California, Berkeley campus, a fourth floor balcony detached from the building and collapsed while a birthday party was taking place inside the apartment.  Tragically, 5 students from Ireland who were living here temporarily and 1 student from California did not survive the accident. 

            

        The owner of the Library Gardens Apartments is now being forced to inspect every balcony at the apartment complex.  So far, many balconies have been “red tagged” for being unsafe.  At least 7 other people have been taken to the hospital with serious injuries experienced in the fall from the balcony.  The exact cause of the balcony collapse is still unknown as officials continue to investigate why the concrete balcony ripped away from the rest of the apartment building.

            

         This tragic accident brings the issue of negligence on the part of property owners into light.  Something like this should never happen.  Officials must find out if the apartment complex owner was negligent in any way for contributing to this accident.  Property owners have a responsibility to maintain safe premises for others who are on their property.  It is too early to know if the owner knew about any type of deficiency in the construction of the building or its balconies.

If you or someone you love has been injured in an accident caused by the negligence of another person or a failure to maintain safe premises please call us today at (301) 854-9000 to set up an appointment at one of our office locations located in Columbia or throughout the rest of Maryland for a free case evaluation or visit us online: http://www.portnerandshure.com/Personal-Injury/Premises-Liability.shtml