Clifford Law Offices Obtains $6.8 Million for 37-Year-Old Mom Rendered Paraplegic

Clifford Law Offices obtained a $6.8 million settlement on behalf of a 37-year-old mother of two who fell through styrofoam flooring of a home under construction where she had been invited by the builder to view.

Jeffrey J. Kroll and J. Ryan Potts, attorneys at Clifford Law Offices, obtained the settlement on behalf of Dawn Crawford of Schereville, Indiana, last month.

She was looking for a new home in 2000 for her husband and two sons, aged two and five, and she had been invited to view one under construction by Slager Homes. She entered a pantry area near the kitchen that was actually a hole for the basement stairs covered by a piece of thin celotex. She fell 10 feet to the basement and suffered permanent spinal injuries that resulted in her being paralyzed from the waist down.

"This injury is a terrible tragedy because a simple warning or roping off of the dangerous area could have avoided this incident," Potts said following the final settlement reached earlier this month. "This mom was very active, an avid skier, and she is deprived of a normal life because of the gross negligence of people who should have been more attentive to their work and its dangers. The subcontractor, in fact, who laid the celotex covering, saw the family as he was leaving the house that day, and he failed to mention anything to them. That was inexcusable."

The case was affirmed by the appellate court of Indiana on interlocutory appeal on a jurisdictional issue that was of wide interest in that state.