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$130,000 Settlement for BOP Prisoner Injured in Cell

A $13,000 settlement was reached in a lawsuit alleging a prisoner suffered a severe injury due to “a dangerous condition” that existed in his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

While attempting to gain access to his bunk on March 3, 1995, prisoner Allan Mawhinney tried to step on a “Slammer Stool,” which “tilted and fell over, causing plaintiff to fall violently to the ground, landing on his head and left side of his body.”  Mawhinney suffered a “subdural hematoma with craniotomy, tear of the rotor cuff of the left shoulder, fracture of the left wrist, and severe emotional destress.”

Mawhinney sued the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Norix Group, which manufactured the “Slammer Stool”.  Represented by attorney Leon P. Gilbert, Mawhinney filed his complaint on March 12, 1997.  The parties reached a settlement in April 1999.

It provided for BOP to pay Mawhinney $125,000, of which $38,733.71 is for attorney fees and costs.  The Norx Group agreed to pay $5,000 in attorney fees.  See:  Case No. 97-1800.  

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