Judge sues over court mishap

Seeks coverage for knee injury

Judge Paul A. Chernoff (at left) during the trial of Dr. Dirk Greineder of Wellesley; above, a 1928 file photo shows a crowd gathered on the Norfolk Superior Court steps — where Chernoff was hurt in 2004 — for the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. (Left: John Blanding / Globe Staff File/ 2001)

Few at the Norfolk Superior Court house in Dedham disputed that the worn and uneven front steps needed fixing. But when a judge in his late 60s tripped on them and broke his left kneecap more than three years ago, neither the state nor the county wanted to take responsibility for the condition of the steps.

Now the judge, Paul A. Chernoff, is suing both the state and the county to determine who is at fault.

Chernoff, who is about to retire, wants to know which party will cover his future medical bills if he develops arthritis in the damaged knee or requires a knee replacement.

"It's never going to be completely healed," said Chernoff's attorney, Leonard Kesten, explaining that judges in Massachusetts don't qualify for workers' compensation, which would have guaranteed coverage of future expenses. "It's the future ramification he's worried about."

The judge is seeking $10,000 for antic ipated future medical and hospital expenses and $25,000 for pain and suffering, according to court documents, which state that the injuries have caused a permanent disability.

The suit also seeks to identify the responsible party. Thus far, said Kesten, "we have been unable to get an answer for who is responsible for those stairs."

Norfolk County owns the courthouse at 650 High St., but it is leased to the state. Norfolk County commissioners and officials from the state declined comment for this story.

The suit maintains that the state and the county breached their duty to maintain the courthouse by failing to ensure that the property was safe for pedestrians.

On the morning of June 30, 2004, Chernoff was returning to the Superior Court house after delivering instructions to a jury, which had gathered at the District Court house across the street. As Chernoff ascended the worn stone steps of the Superior Court - the same steps that spectators of the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, the Italian anarchists, went up in the 1920s - he tripped and landed on his knee.

He didn't go to the hospital right away.

"He pulled himself up and limped into the courtroom," Kesten said. "He didn't miss an hour or minute of work. . . . That's Paul: 'I'm not going to the hospital; I've got work to do.' "

The next day he showed up in court on crutches. Along with the broken kneecap, the judge also tore cartilage in his knee.

"Those steps were terrible," Kesten said. "Everyone knew they were in bad shape."

After the fall, court employees tied yellow warning tape to the steps. But a few months later, a juror fell and broke an ankle. The steps finally were replaced and now have three railings instead of one.

"They look beautiful now," Kesten said.

Kesten said the primary purpose of the lawsuit is to ensure that the judge's medical bills are taken care of after retirement. The judge, he said, needed to file the lawsuit last June before the statute of limitations expired.

The case should be decided in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, where the case was filed, by April 2009.

Chernoff - who presided over the trial of Dirk Greineder, the Wellesley doctor charged with the 1999 Halloween murder of his wife, Mabel - still reports to Norfolk Superior Court from time to time, although he's currently assigned to Middlesex Superior Court in Lowell.

In addition to the steps, there are other signs of deterioration at the court complex, part of which dates to the early 1800s. Several years ago, a Norfolk Superior Court judge ordered the state to move the Probate and Family Court out of one building after employees filed a lawsuit over poor air quality and other conditions. The court and the district attorney's office are temporarily housed on Shawmut Road in Canton.

Governor Deval Patrick set aside $750,000 in a capital bond bill two weeks ago to complete a master plan for the courthouse complex. The plan will examine a renovation and expansion of the Registry of Deeds on High Street, allowing space for the District Court, the Juvenile Court, the law library, a district attorney's office, and additional Superior Court rooms.

The bond bill is now before the Legislature.

Kesten said filing the lawsuit was a last resort.

"We were trying to resolve the issue without suing," said Kesten, stressing that Chernoff "is not complaining about any kind of runaround" from the state or the county.

James Vaznis can be contacted at Vaznis@globe.com.