St. Louis settles for $385,000 with girl crushed by door at Tilles Park

St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael K. Mullen gave final approval on Aug. 20 to a $385,000 settlement between The City of St. Louis and a young girl badly injured at a city park.

According to court records, the plaintiff will use the money to resolve approximately $39,000 in medical liens and to cover $139,000 in attorneys’ fees and litigation costs. The balance will go into a trust and be used to purchase a structured settlement annuity.

The litigation arose from an incident that occurred on Oct. 29, 2016 while the girl, referenced in court records as H.P., was playing with other children inside a racquetball court at Tilles Park in south St. Louis.

According to one of her attorneys, Rachel Roman of Zevan Davidson Roman, the 200-pound metal door to the court had come off its hinges and was leaning against the inside wall of the court. The children were kicking a ball back and forth, and somehow the door tipped over and fell onto H.P., Roman said.

H.P. was treated in the emergency room of St. Louis Children’s Hospital; Roman said she ended up staying at that facility for approximately one month. According to court records, H.P. suffered skull fractures, nerve damage and damage to her carotid artery that will increase her risk for stroke throughout her lifetime. Roman said she is taking medication to mitigate that risk and to relieve headaches.

Court records show that during discovery, multiple city employees admitted to having knowledge of the dangerous state of the door days before H.P.’s injury. For example, the parks commissioner testified that his office had fielded a citizen complaint about the unhinged door three or four days before the incident. The park facilities maintenance superintendent testified that he did not receive the work order to address it until after the incident. In addition, a police sergeant who regularly walks his dog in the park testified that he had seen the door off its hinges but did not report it.

“It would’ve taken very little time to fix the problem,” Roman said. “All you had to do was lay it flat on the concrete.”

Through a family member, H.P. filed her action in April 2017. Her allegations included negligence and premises liability.

Roman pointed out that the maximum the city can pay under Missouri’s sovereign-immunity statute is $430,000.

“We could’ve tried the case and potentially gotten $430,000,” Roman said, “but that wasn’t a risk the client wanted to take.”

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