OLYMPIA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) – A woman’s blood-alcohol level was irrelevant to her lawsuit over a fall from a second-story balcony, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled.
This is because the balcony railing was decaying anyway, the court decided Aug. 27 in reversing the Court of Appeals’ decision to order a new trial.
“The trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding BAC evidence that was only minimally relevant to Cove’s affirmative defense and risked prejudicing the jury against (plaintiff Kimberly Gerlach),” Chief Justice Debra Stephens wrote.
Gerlach had been drinking with friends when she returned to her boyfriend’s unit at Cove Apartments. When she leaned against the balcony railing, it gave way and she fell onto concrete steps below.
No one saw her fall, and she doesn’t remember that evening. Cove claimed she likely fell trying to climb over the railing onto the balcony.
She sued the apartment complex, and a jury found the defendant was 93% at fault for her injuries. The Court of Appeals reversed, but the Supreme Court’s ruling reinstates the trial court verdict.
The trial court also ruled Gerlach could sue Cove under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act. While the Supreme Court decided that was in error, it didn’t justify a new trial because the verdict remained valid as to her common law claim.