Woman claims negligent design of city bike path caused 9-foot fall

A woman is suing over claims an abrupt end to a trail on the city's lakefront caused fall nine feet to the concrete ground and become partially paralyzed.

Jennifer Kraft filed a lawsuit Dec. 30 in Cook County Circuit Court against the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District and A&L Inc.

According to the complaint, Kraft on April 25, 2014 was riding her bicycle northbound on the easternmost edge of the trail at East 37th Street until the trail ended, at which time she fell off the bike and tumbled 9 feet onto the concrete floor, sustaining serious injuries.

Kraft claims that as owners of the trail, the city and the park district negligently and carelessly operated the trail with a zigzag path and curvature that created a dangerous condition for users, and failed to warn users of the trail's abrupt dead end, among other allegations of negligence. She accuses A&L, which designed the trail, of being negligent in its design and construction.

Kraft is represented by attorney Patrick A. Salvi, Patrick A. Salvi II and Jeffrey J. Kroll of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard in Chicago.

Cook County Circuit Court case number: 2014L013359.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in 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 represents only one side of the story.