Falling Mirror Prompts Woman to Sue Oregon Yoga Studio
A Portland, Ore. woman is suing her yoga studio and a glass company after she suffered serious injuries when a mirror fell on her during class.
Lindsey Eltinge said she had her eyes closed when the mirror fell in January, and couldn’t understand why she was in such pain.
The mirror shattered across her body, sending a shard of glass through one of her ankles that severed a nerve and required emergency surgery, The Oregonian reported. Her medical bills ran up to $40,000.
The suit claims that the heavy mirror was poorly glued onto the wall and lacked critical safety features such as screws or braces to keep it in place.
“They slapped a little glue on the wall and that was it,” said Eltinge’s Portland attorney, Sean DuBois. “No screws. No other restraining device.”
Eltinge said she was in the hospital for four days. She used a wheelchair or a walker to get around for two weeks. Her mother, mother-in-law and husband – who flew home to be with her from Korea, where he is stationed in the Army – took shifts over five weeks to be with her during her initial recovery, when she wasn’t allowed to drive because of the medications she took.
She was on painkillers for about four months.
She is back to work now, and to yoga,
Eltinge is suing the studio, CorePower, and DT Glass, the company that apparently acquired the business that installed the mirror.
A message seeking comment from the glass shop wasn’t immediately returned. A woman at the yoga studio referred a call from The Associated Press on Monday to CorePower Yoga’s corporate headquarters, in Denver, which did not immediately respond to an email.
Her suit seeks $40,000 for past medical costs, $10,000 for future medical costs, $5,000 for lost wages and $400,000 for pain and suffering.
Eltinge’s lawyer says no one has been willing to accept responsibility for the incident.