Fallen fence lands Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, city in court

A Cook County woman is suing the city and a funeral home over claims she was injured when she tripped on a chain link fence that had fallen over in a parking lot.

Denise and Chedrick Square filed a lawsuit Aug. 11 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, Spencer Leak Sr. and the City of Chicago.

According to the complaint, Denise Square was in the parking lot across from Leak & Sons Funeral Home, which was marked for use by funeral home guests, on South Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago on Aug. 16, 2013, when she tripped on a chain link fence that was broken and had fallen onto the ground.

She accuses the funeral home, as well as its owner Spencer Leak, of failing to maintain the fence or contact the city to repair it. The city is accused of failing to repair the fence as the owner of the parking lot.

The suit also includes a loss of consortium count from Square's husband, Chedrick.

The Squares are seeking more than $50,000 in damages and are being represented in the case by attorneys at Trapp & Geller in Chicago.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L008384.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.