A Texas State University student who says he was injured when he fell 40 feet down an improperly covered manhole shaft on campus has filed a lawsuit against the university system and a construction company.
Nathan Bain, a Texas State student from Corpus Christi, filed the lawsuit on April 28 against the Texas State University System and construction company Skanska USA Commercial Development Inc.
The lawsuit alleges that Bain was walking near the Supple Science Building on campus on Sept. 5 when he stepped onto an “elevated manhole cover” he believed to be concrete. The manhole cover was actually “worn plastic or plexiglass material that merely appeared to be concrete,” according to the lawsuit.
The cover gave way under Bain and he fell 40 feet down the manhole shaft and “into a cavern,” according to the lawsuit. Bain suffered injuries to his knees, ankles, hands and lungs, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges Skanska was operating the construction site where the manhole was located, and accuses the company and the university system of negligence for failing to cover the manhole “with a sturdy covering that would not break under an individual’s mere body weight.”
It was “foreseeable that a student may stand on the elevated manhole cover or even sit down on the elevated manhole cover for a moment’s rest,” according to the lawsuit. “(Bain) did not know of the dangerous condition and indeed had no reason to know that the cover would break or that the shaft it was protecting was so deep.”
Bain is seeking $250,000 to $1 million in compensation, according to the lawsuit.
The Texas State University System and Skanska were served copies of the lawsuit in May and have yet to file a response to the lawsuit, according to Hays County court records,
Texas State spokesperson Jayme Blaschke said the school “does not discuss active litigation.”
Skanska representatives did not respond to a request for comment.