Hempfield landlord sued over fall

The estate of a Hempfield man who died two months after he crashed through the front porch railing of his rented home wants his former landlord to pay funeral and burial expenses even though he died from an unrelated medical condition.

According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Westmoreland County, David A. Armbrust was injured when he fell through what was described in court documents as a faulty and unsecured railing on a front porch of a Wyoming Avenue home.

Armbrust, 48, sustained back fractures, neck pain and cuts and bruises from the July 23, 2019, fall that required medical care and hospitalization. He died more than two months later and, according to family lawyer Amy Mathieu, his death was not a direct result of his fall.

Mathieu declined further comment on the case or Armbrust’s cause of death, but in the lawsuit she wrote that in his final days he experienced pain and suffering, emotional distress and a diminished ability to enjoy life as a result of his landlord’s negligence.

His landlord, named in the lawsuit as Virginia Tricini, lived next door. She could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.