A now-disabled woman won $18.5 million in a civil settlement after she sued the City of Davis for failing to maintain its sidewalks, which attorneys allege resulted in her tripping, falling and landing paralyzed for life due to a severe spinal cord injury.

"Her life is just forever changed," Glenn Guenard, co-counsel on the case, told CBS Sacramento.

The woman asked not to be identified in this story to maintain her privacy, but is in her 60s and lives in Davis' Wildhorse neighborhood.

She was on a lunchtime walk with her husband around the neighborhood, something they did often, but they decided to take a route they did not frequent that fateful day in August 2022.

Michael Schaps, co-counsel on the case, says his client did not notice a defect in the city-owned sidewalk about an inch and a half high that was concealed by shade and overgrown bushes.

"She tripped over it, and unfortunately, because she had a pre-existing stenosis of the cervical spine, the fall left her a complete quadriplegic. Eventually, she recovered some function of her arms and legs, but she's still a profoundly impaired partial quadriplegic," said Schaps, of The Schaps Law Office in Davis.

She now requires 24/7 care, has painful nerve damage and takes multiple trips a week to a spinal cord center for specialized care. She is not expected to be able to walk normally ever again.

"When she fell and hit her head, just think of a garden hose that kinks and cuts off all the water. That's what happened here. Her spine was compressed, her spinal cord, and so that's why she was rendered a quadriplegic," Guenard said.

As the lawsuit reads, "The installation, maintenance, management, inspection, repair, design, operation, monitoring and/or control of the Subject Sidewalk and/or the Subject Area was done negligently, inadequately, and improperly, thereby creating a hazard, trap, and dangerous condition..."

The sidewalk defect that caused his client to trip and fall has now been repaired, according to Schaps.

"The city should have known about and fixed the sidewalk defect. Among other things, the city's own landscaping contractor, Brightview, was out there working maybe a dozen or more times over the year or two before the accident happened. But Brightview never reported that this defect in the sidewalk existed to the city, and the city never asked Brightview, 'Hey, why aren't you reporting any sidewalk defects to us?' " Schaps said.

Schaps told CBS Sacramento he and Guenard were prepared to take the case to trial this year against the city of Davis and Brightview.

Instead, the case was settled, and the city agreed to pay $18.3 mil. with Brightview paying $200,000.

"It's past time for the city to take this seriously. It's past time for the city to have an affirmative sidewalk inspection program," Schaps said.

While this severe an injury from a sidewalk fall is incredibly traumatic and rare, Schaps and Guenard say the incident itself is not a one-off. 

The data the attorneys pulled from the city showed that over the past 20 years, there have been at least 40 reported cases of people tripping and falling on city sidewalks. 

"The city has hundreds of defects in sidewalks around town because there's trees planted next to sidewalks all over the place, and the city chose not to have a proactive sidewalk inspection program, where it went out and looked for problems with the sidewalks," Schaps said.

Earlier this year, CBS Sacramento reported the city of Davis was also forced to pay $24 mil. to settle a wrongful death suit.

The money was paid to the family of Jennifer Comey, a local mother who was playing with her young daughter at the city's Slide Hill Park in 2021.

A decaying tree limb crashed down on Comey and she later died from her injuries.

"I think the city of Davis has shown a remarkable lack of thought and care when it comes to how best to use its resources to protect members of the public from hazards and to protect itself from liability," said Schaps of both lawsuit settlements. "I hope the city will adopt more of a thoughtful, proactive approach to risk mitigation across the board."

In response to the sidewalk lawsuit, the City of Davis told CBS Sacramento, "The recent settlement regarding a trip-and-fall incident that occurred on a City sidewalk was administered exclusively by Yolo County Public Agency Risk Management Insurance Authority (YCPARMIA), the City's insurance provider. The City did not oversee in the litigation or settlement proceedings. 

In line with the City's ongoing commitment to public safety, staff brought an item to Council on August 19, 2025 that included sidewalk maintenance. The staff report on this item is available here: Staff Report on Unmet Maintenance Needs for City Trees and Sidewalks (August 2025). Council asked staff to return at a future date with a review of the City's current sidewalk process and the potential for a proactive inspection program to help manage the 275 miles of sidewalks within the City. Staff is working diligently on the follow-up report and intends to return to Council in early 2026." 

City staff presented the report on August 19 regarding tree and sidewalk maintenance protocol to the City Council. Public comment from several Davis neighbors echoed concern. 

"It's more important now than ever to hold ourselves accountable to the highest professional standard to do our best to prevent more tragedies," said one resident in public comment. 

City staff clarified at the August meeting that sidewalk repairs are only done reactively, following a complaint. Team members prioritize concerns that are deemed to be necessary within three days while getting to other repairs on the list as funding and time allow. 

Schaps says, to his knowledge, the $18.5 million settlement is one of the biggest trip and fall settlements in United States history.