Take-nothing judgment ends local tenant's suit over fall from apartment roof

GALVESTON - Nearly a year ago, Galveston tenant Brandon Jones took Richard Jarvis, White Star Properties LP and Residual Construction Inc. to court over a fall he took from the roof of his apartment.

Jones's personal injury lawsuit, filed last Dec. 28, came to a close last week when Galveston County Court-at-Law No. 2 Judge Barbara Roberts signed an agreed take-nothing judgment.

As previously reported, Jones alleged he was sitting in a chair on the rooftop of the defendant's property when the chair broke and he fell two stories.

He insisted the terrace area lacked railing and was “allowed to fall into a state of disrepair or faulty function without any safeguards in place to prevent a fall.”

“The defendant(s) failed to provide any reasonably [safe] measures to provide [a] safe environment that would have prevented a fall,” the original petition said.

Court records show that two original answers were provided in response to Jones's claims.

Judge Roberts's order states that neither party is granted compensation.

Attorney Kurt B. Arnold of Arnold & Itkin LLP in Houston represented the plaintiff.

Danielle Harsany Maya of Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons LLP in Houston represented the defendants.

Cause No. 69,015