Three bar patrons who were injured when a fire truck knocked down the wall of a bar on North High Street filed a complaint against the City of Columbus based on the city’s negligence.
The jury trial is expected to take place in December, said Tim Van Eman, the attorney for the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs – Dorothy J. Toki, Brandi Michelle Toki and Albert Travis Toki, who reside at 2424 Adams Ave. -demand the defendants – Columbus Division of Fire, Columbus Division of Fire Maintenance Bureau and Columbus Division of Fire Fleet Management Division – to compensate each plaintiff with at least $25,000 in addition to the attorney’s fees and any cost incurred in the procedure leading up to the trial.
The reasons the plaintiffs claimed in the complaint filed against the city, according to the complaint prepared by Van Eman, are failure in assuring proper, regular maintenance and repairs made to the fire truck and its brakes, notifying the appropriate persons of the need for maintenance and training the employees in the appropriate mechanisms – thereby causing the plaintiffs to suffer physically and incur high medical expenses and loss in enjoyment of life.
“The only complaint was filed back in November,” said Scott Varner, the spokesman for the city attorney.
The city has not expressed an intention to reconcile with the plaintiff, Van Eman said.
“We are willing to negotiate with the city, but to this point the city has not expressed any interest in doing so,” Van Eman said.
“Our position is that (the complaint) should not be filed against the city,” Varner said.
“It is too early to tell how much we will be asking for in compensation, because the Tokis are still recovering from their injuries,” Van Eman said.
The case is going through the “discovery” stage, during which the plaintiffs and the defendants have depositions of the parties, witnesses and the people involved in maintaining the fire trucks, he said.
“In our opinion, the city is very clearly at fault for not properly maintaining the brakes on the fire truck in question,” Van Eman said.
All the patrons were discharged from the hospital within two weeks of the accident, Van Eman said. Dorothy Toki is suffering from lacerated liver and some other injuries, he said.
