DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court is ordering another trial in a lawsuit against a landlord blamed for the 2011 death of a woman who fell over a low balcony railing.
Twenty-one-year-old Shannon Potts fell from a second-floor balcony at the Grand Stratford Apartments in Des Moines after a night of drinking.
The landlord, CM Holdings, had been cited for having guardrails 10 inches lower than the 42-inch height that city code requires. Days before the death, a city board had given the landlord an extension to fix them.
Jurors awarded Potts’ parents $1.1 million after finding CM negligent.
CM argues that the railings were compliant when the apartments were built and that they were grandfathered when the code changed.
The court ruled Friday that issue should be litigated at the retrial.
