$4.5 Million Settlement for Family of Pedestrian Killed by Falling Ice

A settlement of $4.5 million was reached between the family of a man killed by ice falling from a building and two defendants, Neiman-Marcus, the building’s tenant, and Olympia & York, the building’s owners. A 48 year-old father was walking on Michigan Avenue while his daughter was taking college entrance tests in a downtown office suite, when he was struck by a block of ice that had fallen from the front façade of the Neiman-Marcus store. The family, represented by Tom Demetrio, filed suit charging the defendants with negligence and with creating a public nuisance for their failure to keep their building clear of ice and for their failure to cordon off the sidewalk. Chunks of ice had been falling off the building for days but workers failed to place the warning signs out on the day of the occurrence.