Paralyzed victim files lawsuit

A 20-year-old Peruvian woman paralyzed in January after being crushed by snow and falling ice from a condominium roof on Schweitzer Mountain is suing a condominium association and tree-trimming company for damages.

Maria L. Tejada will never walk again, Spokane attorney John D. Allison said Friday. The college student was injured Jan. 3 while working as a housekeeper at Schweitzer Mountain Resort near Sandpoint.

Tejada is suing the Snowdrift Condominium Association and Coeur d’Alene-based Hester Tree Service, whose workers were clearing snow and ice from the condo roof the day of the accident.

The defendants in the case could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Tejada came to Schweitzer Mountain Resort in December 2006 and planned to spend the next three months working as a housekeeper, Allison said.

She and other housekeepers were unloading cleaning supplies from a van outside the Snowdrift Condominiums when a load of snow and ice fell from the roof onto the workers, the suit alleges.

The weight crushed the top of the cleaning van and partially buried Tejada, crushing several of her vertebrae, the suit alleges.

The woman and her boyfriend were among several foreign students who came to work at the resort during their break from school, Allison said. They paid their own airfare, costs of a student visa and their own food and lodging.

The job at Schweitzer paid $7 an hour, Allison said.

“It was not about money,” he said. “It was about adventure. Now all of a sudden she’s a woman without a place.”

Tejada’s family lives in an upper level of a building with no elevator or wheelchair access in a city in Peru, Allison said.

Tejada was able to extend her visa so she could stay in the United States and receive medical care and undergo rehabilitation, Allison said. Her mother traveled from Peru following the accident to be with her and has yet to return home. Together, they’ve been staying with relatives in Los Angeles.

“She’s an amazing young woman,” Allison said, adding that Tejada’s bright personality makes the accident “all the more sad.”

The suit alleges Hester Tree Service employees who were clearing snow from the roof were negligent and failed to erect cones, signs or other barriers to warn of the “dangerous activity occurring at the top of the building.”

The condo association is also accused of negligence for “failing to reasonably and properly assess the hazard posed by large roof accumulations of snow and ice” and not clearing the roof in a more timely manner.

Tejada is seeking damages in excess of $10,000 for medical care and other expenses, pain and suffering.