Teacher suing in store collapse: 'I felt I was dying'

A special-education teacher injured last year when the roof of the now-closed Center City Lululemon Athletica store caved in on her as she shopped with friends filed a negligence lawsuit Tuesday against the owners of the adjacent property.

Allison Friedman, 28, accused affiliates of Pearl Properties of failing to regularly inspect and maintain the 90-year-old, six-story building next door to the Lululemon at 1527 Walnut St., according to the suit filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

Friedman was shopping there with two friends last Jan. 27 when part of the parapet wall, loosened from years of freezes, thaws, and refreezes, crumbled and crashed through Lululemon's roof onto the unsuspecting women below, according to the suit.

"I felt I was dying," Friedman said at a news conference Tuesday. "I've been in pain every day for a year."

Friedman was scheduled to undergo spinal-fusion surgery Wednesday - the one-year anniversary of the collapse - for injuries that continue to plague her, according to her lawyer, Robert J. Mongeluzzi.

Reed Slogoff, manager of Pearl Properties, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Defendants named in the case include 1529 Walnut Street Associates L.P., a Pearl Properties entity that owned the building next to the Lululemon store, and Pearl Properties as the building manager.

Lululemon Athletica was not named because the business had not been warned about the alleged dangers of the neighboring property, Mongeluzzi said.

Friedman was shopping for a birthday gift for a friend when, she said, "we heard a loud bang."

Then came a second bang, before the ceiling collapsed, sending the roof and debris falling around her.

Her friends also were hurt, but Friedman's injuries were the most serious, said Mongeluzzi, who specializes in construction accidents and represents victims of the 2013 Center City collapse that crushed an adjacent Salvation Army thrift store, killing six and injuring 13.

Her husband, Larry Friedman, 29, said the collapse had derailed their plans to start a family and buy a house. The couple live in Center City.

Friedman aims "to hold all those responsible for the accident, as well as her continuing pain and suffering, fully accountable," Mongeluzzi said.

Pearl's management "knew or should have known that because 1529 Walnut St. was built close to 100 years ago, the parapet roof was subject to thaw and refreeze, which creates a greater likelihood for brick damage and the necessity for more frequent inspection," according to the suit.

Staff writers Julie Shaw and Robert Moran contributed to this article.