SEATTLE — A jury awarded $13.1 million to an ultramarathon athlete who was severely injured when she fell on a Seattle sidewalk in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The award by a King County jury found that the city of Seattle and the owners of an apartment building are responsible for the amount, the Seattle Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lesley Mettler Auld, 53, said in a news release issued by her attorneys on Friday that she will never run again and struggles to walk after the fall on a sidewalk in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday, fully 34 months since the fall, I still have to pull myself up the stairs in my house on my hands and knees,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The professional fitness coach has completed numerous ultramarathons, which are races longer than the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers), her lawyers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She fell on a stretch of sidewalk \u201cperennially covered in water and algae\u201d, according to her lawsuit. Other residents testified in court they had also fallen there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mettler Auld severely damaged her quadriceps and required multiple surgeries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A spokesperson for the Seattle city attorney\u2019s office declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n