Officials on Wednesday received formal notice that a Wilton woman intends to sue New Canaan after falling down last month while attending a play at a town facility.
Powerhouse Theater in Waveny. Credit: Michael Dinan
Polly Verrico at about 8:35 p.m. on Aug. 4—a Friday—slipped and fell after rising from her seat during intermission at a Town Players of New Canaan performance of “John Loves Mary.”
Verrico sustained “serious personal injuries,” according to a Notice of Claim filed on her behalf by attorney Ephraim Fink of New York City-based MayaLaw.
“Mrs. Verrico’s injuries were caused by the negligence of the owner of the premises, the Town of New Canaan, and its agents, servants, employees and/or lessees, namely: the failure to distinguish stair levels and to adequately light the theater during intermission. Mrs. Verrico will claim that the dimmed lights were not brought up to full brightness preceding her fall and that the step she slipped on was not marked with tape similarly to one immediately adjacent to it.”
According to the notice, right after the woman fell, “an unidentified theater employee” whose name is not known “arrived with tape and addressed the difficulty of seeing the step by marking it with the tape.”
Verrico’s injuries and problems include a concussion, “post-concussion syndrome, head trauma, dizziness, forgetfulness, left shoulder internal derangement” and she is “continuing treatment with a neurologist, neuropsychologist, orthopedist, internist and physical therapist,” the notice said.
“As a result” of the fall, “Mrs. Verrico cannot drive and has been living with her sister for assistance, among other curtailments of her daily living along with pain and physical and mental limitations,” it said.