Kent State University has settled a lawsuit with a student who was injured while hurrying to her dormitory mail room. The incident occurred on March 17, 2023, when Maeve Grennan left her part-time job at the university’s Student Recreation and Wellness Center to pick up a package of Irish soda bread sent by her mother. Grennan aimed to retrieve the package before the mail room closed at 8 p.m., as it was her last opportunity before the weekend.
Grennan stated in her lawsuit that she wanted to collect the bread "on the evening in question in order to consume it before it spoiled." She claimed she was walking briskly under dim lighting near her residence when she tripped over a rope or wire connected between two benches, approximately one foot off the ground. The fall resulted in a fractured elbow that required surgery involving a plate and seven screws. Grennan also reported other injuries and alleged that these impacted her schoolwork for the remainder of the Spring 2023 semester, forcing her to quit her job at the wellness center.
Grennan filed a lawsuit against Kent State University and the State of Ohio in the Ohio Court of Claims, alleging negligence on part of the university for creating a hazard by connecting two benches with low-lying wire or rope in a major pedestrian area.
On May 3, 2024, the Court of Claims approved a $50,000 settlement between Grennan and Kent State University. The settlement acknowledged potential discrepancies in both parties' accounts of the incident. "It is understood by the parties that the facts upon which this agreement and release is made may prove to be other than or different than the facts now known by either of them or believed by either of them to be true," stated the settlement document.
The agreement clarified that Grennan recognized it as a compromise of disputed claims and did not constitute an admission of fault by Kent State University.
For more information on this case (Maeve Grennan v. Kent State University, 2024-00047JD), visit the Court of Claims website.