Jury awards more than $13 million to ultramarathon athlete injured in fall on a Seattle sidewalk

SEATTLE — A jury awarded $13.1 million to an ultramarathon athlete who was seriously injured when she fell to a sidewalk in Seattle in 2021.

The award by a King County jury found the city of Seattle and apartment complex owners responsible for the amount The Seattle Times reports this.

Lesley Mettler Auld, 53, said in a news release from her lawyers on Friday that she will never run again and is having difficulty walking after falling on a sidewalk in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood.

“Today, 34 months after the fall, I still have to pull myself up the stairs in my house on my hands and knees,” she said.

The professional fitness coach has completed numerous ultramarathons, races longer than the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles, her lawyers said.

According to her lawsuit, she fell onto a stretch of sidewalk that was “perpetually covered in water and algae.” Other residents testified in court that they had also fallen there.

Mettler Auld severely damaged her quadriceps and required multiple surgeries.

A spokesperson for the Seattle City Attorney’s Office declined to comment.