Family Injured In Highland Park Porch Collapse Sues Landlord

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Three family members injured in a porch collapse on Memorial Day weekend in the Fort Sheridan neighborhood filed a lawsuit against their landlord Monday. Shortly before 4:20 p.m. on May 26, a father, mother and teenage daughter were out on a second-story porch when part of it gave way, causing them to fall about a 15 feet to the ground. All three were hospitalized with "various fractures of the skull, torso or ankle," according to Highland Park authorities and lawyers for the family.

The owner of the apartment, Alex Tenuta, negligently failed to "exercise ordinary care" in the maintenance of the property, according to the complaint. Robert Powell, Joellen Powell, and their 19-year-old daughter, were Tenuta's tenants at the time. They rented an upstairs unit in the 200 block of Leonard Wood South. The porches were built around 1999 when the old Fort Sheridan barracks were converted into a residential development, according to lawyers for the injured family members.

“A preliminary inspection by private, government and insurance experts concluded the porch collapsed because support members were rotted through and through,” said attorney Francis Patrick Murphy, a partner at the firm Corboy & Demetrio, in a release.

“Proper and timely inspections by a professional would have easily prevented this event," Murphy said. "This was a tragedy waiting to happen."

Murphy's firm has extensive experience in porch cases, including representing more than a dozen of the victims in a 2003 Lincoln Park porch collapse, the deadliest in U.S. history, which killed 13 people and injured 29. Nearly a decade of litigation concluded with a $16.6 million global settlement. The incident led to changes to strengthen code enforcement in Chicago.

The Powells' lawsuit accuses Tenuta of failing to maintain the porch "so it was free of wood rot," failing to warn the family that the porch was rotted "and was likely to collapse," causing the wood rot by not supplying "proper drainage."

Tenuta allowed the family to use the porch when he knew, or should have known that the rotted wood make the porch unsafe, according to the suit, which seeks in excess of $50,000 in damages. It said he failed to inspect the exterior porch or replace the rotten wood.

MORE: 3 Hurt In Highland Park Porch Collapse »

According to Highland Park city staff, the building's homeowner's association posted notice on all of its 12 units that the porches should not be used pending future inspection, shortly after the collapse. City Manager Ghida Neukirch did not immediately provide answers to queries about the incident. Court records in the case – No. 18-L-452 in Lake County Circuit Court – did not indicate an attorney was currently representing Tenuta, who could not be reached for comment. Property records suggest he and his wife purchased a nearby house in Lake Forest in October 2017. It was not immediately clear if he owns additional rental properties.

Alex Tenuto, owner of collapsed Fort Sheridan porch, in 2016:

For more information on this and other local stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts or download the iPhone or Android app.