A Child’s Fall into a City Excavation
A young girl’s tumble into a construction pit sparks a damages lawsuit against an investment firm.
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Blanche F. Daniels' suit against the Eastern Investment Company to recover damages for bodily injuries is still on trial before Judge Humes. Blanche and her mother were walking along the sidewalk where the company had made an excavation for a new office building at the corner of Second and Columbia. While playing, the girl ran backward and fell into the excavation, striking her head against a plank. Her mother testified that the child has been nervous, excitable, and prone to waking up crying since the accident. Medical experts for both sides were called, though none could definitively state whether the effects on her nervous system would be permanent.
“As she fell she struck her head against a plank, bruising herself and laying open her cheek.”
This case highlights the wild west nature of downtown development in 1890s Seattle, where excavations for large buildings often turned city sidewalks into death traps. Today's strict liability codes and safety ordinances for construction sites are direct descendants of these messy, litigious battles over public safety in a booming city.
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