Stefan Gardner pictured with his granddaughter. Courtesy photo.

A Superior Court jury has awarded $341,000 to Southington contractor Stefan Gardner, who fractured his ankle after falling down a defective step in a basement in a vacant Bristol house he was inspecting.

The jury found the building's owners—a bank and two other entities—negligent. It also awarded Gardner's wife $50,000 for loss of consortium, in addition to the six-figure award to her husband.

The injury occurred in a vacant house that CIT Bank N.A. took possession of after its tenant died in October 2015. The house has been vacant for nearly a year when in September 2016, Gardner, an independent contractor with Twenty Two Hill LLC, was asked to inspect it. While on that inspection, Gardner, 50, descended the stairwell that leads to the basement and fell four feet, due to a defective step, according to his amended lawsuit filed in November 2017.

At issue was who would be liable for Gardner's fall.

Peter Bowman, Gardner's Stratford-based attorney, sued the estate of the woman who had lived in the house. He also named CIT Bank, Twenty Two Hill, and a third corporate defendant: National Field Representatives Inc.

Bowman, a partner with Billings, Barrett & Bowman, said that CIT Bank contracts with National Field Representatives, which is a company that has people do walk-through inspections of vacant homes or homes in default. Since National Field Representatives is based in New Hampshire, the company contacted Twenty Two Hill, which had Gardner inspect the property.

The jury found the estate was not liable, but held the three companies accountable. It also found Gardner 10% liable, cutting the award by about $38,000 for a total of $391,000 to Gardner and his wife.

At trial all three companies argued they weren't responsible for fixing the stairs. The defendants have since filed motions to set aside the verdict. No ruling has been made.

“I argued they had no time to fix the stair, but they were able to cut the lawn and make the house look nice on the outside,” said Bowman, who noted the defendants were aware that other inspections on four separate occasions had reported the defective stair.

Bowman said the jury found his client to be 10% at fault because when he went to the home he was given notes, including one about the step being defective.

“The note said there was a broken basement stair,” Bowman said, “My client admitted that he failed to look at the note. That humility was well received by the jury.”

Bowman said Gardner had 11 screws and a plate put in to repair his ankle. “He was in a lot of pain,” Bowman said. “Today, things have improved, but he still has pain about once or twice a week.”

Representing Twenty Two Hill is Bruce Newman of Brown, Paindiris & Scott. Newman did not respond to a request for comment.

Representing CIT Bank and National Field Representatives is Brian Rich of Halloran & Sage. Rich declined to comment Thursday.

In its motion to set aside the verdict, the defendants argued there was not sufficient evidence and a lack of factual evidence to support the jury's verdict claim that they were negligent.