A man who needed spinal surgery after he fell on an apartment building stairway agreed to a $1.4 million settlement in his Union County suit, Hawkins v. Chelsea Estates, on Jan. 2.
Todd Hawkins, now 49, was visiting his father at the Chelsea Estates apartment complex in Elizabeth on March 8, 2015, when the concrete stairway broke apart under his foot, causing him to fall forward and down 10 steps to the ground below. Hawkins suffered lumbar disc herniations at L3-4 and L4-5, requiring lumbar spinal fusion surgery. He also had a right shoulder rotator cuff tear, requiring arthroscopic surgery, the suit claimed.
