Tenants sue after stair railing breaks

A former tenant claims a Harris County man and two of his colleagues are responsible for injuries the tenant suffered when a railing leading to his above-garage apartment gave way.

Stanley R. McKinney and Cammie Beth McKinney filed a lawsuit against Christopher Foster, Laverne Moreland and Ranganath Kandala Nov. 8 in Harris County District Court. The McKinneys claim the defendants are responsible for injuries to Mr. McKinney because they allegedly failed to repair a broken railing leading up to the couple's apartment in Brookshire.

The McKinneys say they were living in the apartment in the fall of 2009 and complained several times to Moreland that the railing was weak and needed to be fixed. In October 2009, Stanley says he was walking down the stairs, tripped and fell into the railing which gave way, allowing him to fall eight feet to the ground below.

The McKinneys say Mr. McKinney was seriously injured in the fall. They contend the defendants are responsible because they were the owners and/or managers of the property and failed to correct known issues with the railing.

The couple is asking for an unspecified amount of money to compensate for medical expenses, pain and mental anguish, physical impairment, lost wages, loss of consortium and loss of services.

Attorney Edward A. Mattingly of Houston is representing the McKinneys.

Harris County District Court Case No. 2010-73656.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Harris County Courthouse. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.