A New York man testified Monday in Schuylkill County Court that he suffered serious injuries when he tripped over a lamppost base in November 2013 outside the Ramada Hotel in Pottsville.
“I came straight down. I couldn’t roll on anything to protect the shoulder,” John A. Centra, Manlius, New York, said about his fall about 6 p.m. Nov. 12, 2013, on the walkway just north of the hotel. “My shoulder hit ... and I hit the building with my face.”
Centra provided key testimony on his own behalf on the first day of his civil jury trial, in which he is seeking unspecified monetary damages of more than $10,000 from DNGP Enterprises Inc., the owner of the Ramada, 101 S. Progress Ave. Centra’s lawyer, Albert J. Evans, Pottsville, will continue presenting his case when the trial, over which President Judge William E. Baldwin is presiding, resumes at 9 a.m. today.
In the lawsuit, which they filed Aug. 13, 2014, Centra and his wife Nancy allege the Ramada is liable for his injuries because it was negligent in allowing the lamppost base to be exposed, thereby causing John Centra, a retired college professor, to trip over it.
“Did you notice an exposed lamppost base?” Evans asked John Centra.
“No,” he answered.
Centra said he suffered a left shoulder injury, a black eye and other injuries, was hospitalized for four or five days and then underwent rehabilitation. He said his wife suffered a stroke several years ago, so they had to move into an assisted living facility for approximately four months until he was better.
“The shoulder was still in pain” after the rehabilitation, Centra said.
He said he and his wife do a lot fewer things since his injury and he still has physical problems.
“I have less strength, that’s for sure,” Centra said. “I no longer swim. I would give anything that this never happened.”
Amanda Riegel, who was working at the hotel at the time of the incident, testified that Centra appeared to be hurt.
“I just remember the blood and what he tripped over,” Riegel said.
“Could you tell he was in pain?” Evans asked.
“Yes,” she said.
However, she also said there is a light at the hotel entrance near the exposed base and that no one ever had complained about it being too dark.
Donald Chescavage, former Pottsville code enforcement officer, testified he issued a permit for work to be done on the walkway but not to remove the lamppost.
“It could be a trip hazard for anybody passing through,” he said.
When cross-examined by Joseph Pulcini, Allentown, DNGP’s lawyer, Chescavage said Charles Pretti, Seltzer, the contractor who removed the lamppost, should not have done it.
“I would have told him to not remove it,” he said.
Pretti, the owner of Renovators and Remodelers, said he removed the lamppost because his dump truck would not fit in the walkway with it there, and that he received permission from the city to take it down. He said he covered the base with pieces of wood to try to prevent people from tripping over it.
He also said people from the Ramada knew the lamppost had been removed but said nothing about any danger.