Dr. Bradley Breeden’s Permanent Shoulder & Spinal Injuries After Slipping on Cozy Corner Motel’s Narrow, Handrail-Free Staircase in Williamstown — Attorney911 Fights for Guests Harmed by Dangerous Property Conditions, Ralph Manginello’s 27+ Years of Federal-Court Trial Practice, Lupe Peña the Former Insurance-Defense Insider Who Knows How the Claims Machine Undervalues Slip-and-Fall Cases, We Preserve Surveillance Footage and Maintenance Logs Before They’re Destroyed, Massachusetts Premises Liability Law & the Open-and-Obvious Defense, the Firm Has Recovered Millions for Catastrophic Injury Victims — Free 24/7 Consultation, No Fee Unless We Win, Hablamos Español, 1-888-ATTY-911
When a Motel Staircase Becomes a Lawsuit: What the Cozy Corner Verdict Teaches Williamstown Families You checked out of a motel in Williamstown. You carried your suitcase down the stairs. Your foot hit something you didn’t see. You tumbled down six steps. The next thing you remember is a medic asking your name. Now you’re looking at MRIs, a shoulder that won’t move the way it used to, and a pile of medical bills — and someone is telling you the motel isn’t responsible because the stairs were “open and obvious.” We hear that story more often than most people think. Staircases in older buildings, narrow treads, ceilings so low an adult has to duck, handrails that were never installed in the first place — these are exactly the conditions that produce serious injuries and exactly the conditions a defense lawyer will call “open and obvious” when a guest gets hurt. The July 24, 2024 federal jury verdict in Breeden v. Vyas — tried in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Springfield before Judge Mark G. Mastroianni — is one of those cases. After three days of trial, the jury concluded the Cozy Corner Motel in…