DiCello Levitt and Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky Lead Legal Team Seeking Justice for Severely Injured Plaintiff; Eclipse Community Management and Property Owners Also Named as Defendants
CINCINNATI—November 3, 2025—A University of Cincinnati medical student, Andrew McGovern, has filed a lawsuit after suffering life-altering injuries in a catastrophic balcony collapse at 242 Stetson Street on October 17, 2025. The suit, filed in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, names Stetson Square Condominium Unit Owners Association, Eclipse Community Management, and property owners Hezekiel and Saba Eskender among the defendants. DiCello Levitt and Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky PC represent Mr. McGovern.
The complaint alleges that the defendants failed to properly inspect, maintain, and repair the balcony at 242 Stetson Street, resulting in a structural failure that caused McGovern and several others to fall 20 feet to the pavement below. The lawsuit asserts that the defendants’ negligence, gross negligence, and reckless disregard for safety led directly to McGovern’s severe and permanent injuries, including multiple fractures, internal injuries, and ongoing physical and emotional trauma.
“Andrew McGovern’s life was forever changed in an instant because those responsible for this property failed to do their jobs,” said Ken Abbarno, a partner at DiCello Levitt who manages the national law firm’s Cleveland office. “This tragedy was entirely preventable. Our client was a guest, celebrating with friends, and now faces a long and difficult recovery at a moment when he should be building his future, not fighting to reclaim his health.”
“We are committed to ensuring that property owners and managers across Ohio take their responsibilities seriously,” added Steven Wigrizer, a partner at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky. “When you provide housing to students and young people, you have a duty to ensure that every structure is built and maintained to the highest safety standards. There is simply no excuse for failing to meet basic building codes and putting lives at risk.”
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as court-ordered reforms to ensure that condominium associations and property managers implement and enforce safety protocols that prevent future tragedies.
The legal team is led by DiCello Levitt’s Ken Abbarno, Mark DiCello, Peter Soldato, and Justin Abbarno, and Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky’s Robert Mongeluzzi, Steven Wigrizer, E. Douglas DiSandro, and Olivia Szumski.
A copy of the complaint is available here.
About DiCello Levitt
DiCello Levitt is a complex issues and trial firm dedicated to achieving justice for our clients through securities, class action, antitrust, environmental, mass tort, financial services, business-to-business, public client, whistleblower, personal injury, and civil and human rights litigation. Our lawyers are highly respected for their ability to litigate and win cases—whether by trial, settlement, or otherwise—for people who have suffered harm, global corporations that have sustained significant economic losses, and public clients seeking to protect their citizens’ rights and interests. Every day, we put our reputations—and our capital—on the line for our clients.
DiCello Levitt has achieved top recognition as Plaintiffs Firm of the Year and Trial Innovation Firm of the Year by the National Law Journal, in addition to its top-tier Chambers and Benchmark ratings. For more information about the firm, including recent trial victories and case resolutions, please visit www.dicellolevitt.com.
About Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky handles complex, high-value premises liability litigation involving factors far beyond the typical slip-and-fall case. From analyzing evidence to selecting experts, we have mastered the difficult task of establishing a relationship between a property’s condition and the injuries that occur there. These cases involve property owners who fail to ensure that people who are in and around their buildings have a safe place to walk, work, shop, or eat. We make sure that owners and property managers who cut safety corners are held accountable.
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky has successfully represented victims of many serious accidents that have occurred on public and private properties, including those caused by building and construction site collapses, explosions, falls from heights, negligent security, negligent alcohol servers, and negligent maintenance of the property. Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky has secured numerous multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements for our clients in premises liability cases, including some that rank among the largest in the U.S.
Media Contact
Caitlin Whitehurst, Director of Communications, cwhitehurst@dicellolevitt.com
