In October 2011, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation, a New York-based private real estate investment firm focusing on retail and office assets, via subsidiary LLC, took over the lease of Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace and retained Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based financial and professional services firm that specializes in commercial real estate services and investment management, to manage the property. However, as it was revealed during discovery, the three entities (Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation, AAC Fan Hall Realty LLC, and Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. – the named defendants in the premises liability suit) did not have sufficient safety policies, procedures, and rules in place, thus creating an unsafe environment for millions of visitors to this iconic Boston destination.
In March 2013, a Massachusetts resident, while visiting Faneuil Hall Marketplace with family, tripped in a hole in the plaza where several bricks were missing. She fell and broke her foot. As a result of the injuries sustained, she (the plaintiff in the suit) incurred approximately $17,000 in medical expenses and was adversely affected by pain she experienced in all of her daily activities.
When the case was placed in litigation, it was discovered that the hazardous condition in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace plaza (multiple missing bricks) was left unchecked and unrepaired for several days — putting many other visitors at the same risk of harm — because at that time, Faneuil Hall Marketplace management did not have a system in place to ensure that the property was inspected in an adequate and timely manner.
During pendency of this civil action, after the facts of the prolonged unsafe conditions were revealed, the defendants’ corporate representative (coming in from New York) blamed their then local operations managers — one of whom was fired prior to the accident and the other who was subsequently fired — and only subsequently, under yet another new operations manager, instituted a policy to ensure that the entire property is inspected at least once every 24 hours.
Defendants settled shortly before the jury trial was to commence by paying $175,000 to the plaintiff for the injuries, pain, and suffering she endured.
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