(CN) - A cable technician who was hit by a falling suicide victim cannot collect damages from the New Orleans hotel from which the victim jumped, a Louisiana appeals court ruled.
Carl Keller was working for Cox Communications when he was hit by Amy Lewis, who plunged to her death from the roof of the Monteleone Hotel.
Keller suffered a broken rib and a broken leg. He and his wife, Toni, sued the hotel for negligence.
The trial court ruled for the hotel, based in part on the testimony of architectural science expert George Hero IV.
Hero said the hotel's guardrail was "way over the top of what is necessary and required by the code."
The Kellers argued that the hotel had admitted that one person had jumped from the roof in the past.
But the Fourth District Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision, saying the Kellers failed to prove the story about the previous suicide jumper.
"There is no question that the primary cause of the accident was the action of Ms. Lewis. Further, there is no evidence that the Monteleone Hotel knew of the possibility of such an occurrence taking place," Judge Terri Love wrote.
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