A Marion Township resident is suing Domino’s Pizza and Butler City over injuries she claimed to suffer in June 2020 when she said she fell due to a defective, uneven sidewalk in front of the Domino's at 109 South Main St.

Diane Craig's attorney, Margaret Quinlan, of Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, filed the suit in Butler County Common Pleas Court on April 14. The suit seeks damages in excess of $35,000, and a jury trial.

The suit alleges that Craig was traversing the sidewalk in front of the shop on June 16, 2020, when she fell and suffered serious injuries as a result of defects that caused the sidewalk to be uneven. The change in elevation of the sidewalk was a dangerous and defective condition that the defendants didn't repair or warn pedestrians about, according to the suit.

As a result of the defendants' negligence, the suit argues, Craig suffered a fractured right ankle that required surgery; financial expenses and losses, loss of pleasure and loss of earnings and earning potential.

According to the city’s sidewalk ordinance, the owner or occupant of property has the duty to keep the sidewalk abutting their property in good repair and remove snow, ice or any obstruction that may interfere with the safe and convenient use of the walk.

The city will give official notice for construction, paving, repaving or maintaining of any sidewalk in the city to the owner of the property abutting the sidewalk. The city engineer will prepare plans and specifications for that work, according to the ordinance.

Butler solicitor Tom Breth said there is no factual or legal basis for the suit, and it has been referred to the city’s insurance carrier.

None of the other defendants named in the suit could be reached for comment. They include a former owner Ammar Jali and landlords Robert Barkus and Pamela Barkus, both of Butler. Also named as defendants are JC Butler Inc., which does business as Domino’s Pizza of Butler, and Domino’s Pizza Inc of Ann Arbor, Mich.