Former Seattle firefighter awarded $13 million

The city of Seattle must pay a former firefighter $12.75 million for debilitating injuries suffered when he fell 15 feet through a fire-station pole hole, a King County Superior Court jury decided on Thursday.

Mark Jones, 45, was on temporary assignment at Station 33, the city's southernmost fire station, when he was injured trying to get to the restroom in the early hours of Dec. 23, 2003, according to court papers.

He'd awakened in the dark fire-station bunk room and entered the wrong door, falling 15 feet through an unguarded fire-pole hole to the concrete floor below. The door to the pole was just a few feet away from a similar door to the restroom, Jones said in court papers.

The jury's decision followed a six-week trial in King County Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead's courtroom in the King County Courthouse in Seattle.

City officials say they have not yet decided whether to appeal.

The City Attorney's Office said the award was about half what Jones, a South Snohomish County resident, had sought in his civil suit against the city. But it was more than double what the city had offered to try to settle the case out of court, said Suzanne Skinner, director of the civil division in the City Attorney's Office.

One of Jones' attorneys, Dick Kilpatrick, of Bellevue, said in a telephone interview there had been another fall at the same pole in the same station in the middle of the night in 1976.

Jones said in court papers that his injuries were the result of negligence on the part of the city and the Fire Department for failing to install a proper guard at or around the fire pole or the door that opened to it.

"I was knocked unconscious when I fell and suffered a head injury," he said in court papers. "When I fell, I broke nine ribs on my right side, and fractured my pelvis in multiple places."

Jones said he suffered fractures to five lower-back vertebrae and had lung, bladder and liver injuries.

Because of his injuries, Jones has not been able to return to work, Kilpatrick said. He tried working part time in office clerical jobs with the Fire Department, but even those were too difficult, Kilpatrick said.

Kilpatrick said Jones still suffers breathing difficulties, the result of complications of his lung injury, along with chronic pain, and he has not recovered from the head injury.

Jones will never be able to return to work of any kind, Kilpatrick said.

During the trial, the city of Seattle offered to settle the case for $4 million, plus $1 million the city had paid for Jones' medical expenses and for litigation costs, totaling $5 million, the maximum amount of the city's self-coverage, said City Attorney Tom Carr. That amount was rejected by Jones' guardian, his twin sister Margie Jones, who is listed in 2008 city records as a Seattle firefighter.

Skinner said the city's insurance carrier, AIG, would be responsible for the award amount above the city's $5 million self-insurance.

Skinner said the city is considering an appeal. "We have to take a look and see if there are appealable issues," she said.

"We're satisfied with what the jury did," Kilpatrick said.

Since Jones was injured, the Fire Department has installed chest-high latching mechanisms on the doors to fire poles so firefighters have a "level of awareness" about opening the doors, department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said today.

Eleven stations have fire poles, Fitzpatrick said.

One new station completed in January 2008 was granted a variance from a state regulation that prohibits fire poles in new stations, Fitzpatrick said. At that location, Fire Station 10 in downtown Seattle, the latch automatically unlocks when the fire bell rings, she said.

Firefighters have the option of using poles or stairs, Fitzpatrick said.

Padding is in place at the foot of the poles, she said.

Charles E. Brown: 206-464-2206 or cbrown@seattletimes.com