$100 Million Wrongful Death Suit Filed After Toddler Fell 26 Stories Through a Defective Window Screen
Kim Brooks-Rodney of Cohen & Cohen filed a $100 million wrongful death complaint against Skyline Towers and property manager Equity Residential after a three-year-old boy fell 26 stories through a defective window screen in Fairfax County, alleging the company had known about the hazard since 2015 and failed to warn families.
What happened
Skyline Towers is a residential high-rise in Falls Church, Fairfax County, Virginia, managed by Equity Residential Properties Management Corp. On the morning of May 30, 2018, a three-year-old boy who lived on the 26th floor climbed onto an air-conditioning unit beneath a bedroom window. He pressed against the window screen. It gave way. He fell 26 stories.
The child was the Zaidi family's son. First responders found him on the ground below. He did not survive.
The family retained Kim Brooks-Rodney of Cohen & Cohen, P.C. On August 14, 2018, Brooks-Rodney filed a $100 million wrongful death complaint in Fairfax County, naming both the apartment complex and Equity Residential as defendants. The filing came quickly, for a reason Brooks-Rodney stated publicly: the night before, August 13, 2018, a two-year-old fell from a balcony on the 24th floor of the same building. Brooks-Rodney told reporters: "We don't want another child to die."
The complaint's core argument reached back to 2015. That year, a different child at the same complex fell partially through a window screen and broke her leg. The lawsuit alleged that Skyline Towers and Equity Residential knew at that point the screens would give way under the weight of a young child leaning against them. Despite that documented knowledge, the management company posted no warnings, installed no guards, and never notified tenants with young children. The complaint stated that a simple warning label on the window screen would likely have prevented the death.
The filing also described how families in the building routinely used A/C units as elevated surfaces in warm months, placing young children within reach of windows that offered no meaningful barrier. The complaint sought damages and a court order requiring building-wide window inspections, screen replacements, and direct notification to all residents about the risk.
The complaint was filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court in August 2018. No verdict, judgment, or settlement in the case has been reported in the public record. The evidence Cohen & Cohen laid out in the complaint, the 2015 prior injury at the same property, the management company's failure to act on that notice, and the second child's fall the night before filing, formed the basis of the negligence claim the family brought against Equity Residential.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.NBC4 Washington: Family Sues After Another Child Falls to Death From Same Virginia Apartment Building (Aug. 2018)·Archived copy
- 2.Fox5 DC: Family Files Lawsuit After Child Killed in Fall From Fairfax County Apartment Building Window (Aug. 2018)·Archived copy
- 3.WTOP News: Family of Toddler Killed in May Virginia Fall Sues Apartment Owner (Aug. 2018)·Archived copy
- 4.WTVR CBS 6: Family Sues After Another Child Falls to Death From Virginia Apartment Building (Aug. 2018)·Archived copy
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