City to pay $875k after woman falls 30 feet at Old Sacramento waterfront
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sacramento settles lawsuit with $875K payout over 2022 injury at waterfront.
- City works on $3M deck replacement amid $1.4B in deferred infrastructure needs.
- Waterfront revitalization includes $25M phase for playground and boardwalk work.
The city of Sacramento will pay $875,000 to settle a lawsuit with a woman who alleged she fell 30 feet at the Old Sacramento Waterfront, a site currently undergoing overdue renovations.
The settlement stems from a July 2022 incident, in which Kiara Campbell said she was walking along a boat walkway at the waterfront before falling about “30 to 35 feet” onto a lower platform and suffering life threatening injuries. The lawsuit alleged her fall was caused from “defective, inadequate and/or absent railings.” Campbell filed the case in Sacramento Superior Court one year later and the settlement was reached earlier this summer.
Under terms of the agreement, she will receive a one-time payment of $542,258 and subsequent monthly installments until June of 2040. O’Brien & Zehnder Law Firm, which represented Campbell, declined a request for comment.
The payout comes as the city continues long delayed renovations at the waterfront dining deck in Old Sacramento. In April, the City Council approved $3 million to replace the deteriorating deck at 1110 Front Street. Work is anticipated to finish in late fall or early winter, said City spokesperson Jennifer Singer on Wednesday.
Such a restoration was discussed for years, but the calls were amplified after a 2019 study deemed the 30-year-old deck unsafe. City officials ordered the deck closed in April 2024 for those safety reasons.
Rio City Cafe, which leased the property from the city for 30 years, closed later that year despite a last-minute effort from then-Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg to reach an agreement for the restaurant to remain open. The restaurant management had said the deck contributed to roughly 70% of the cafe’s business.
The new deck, expected to last another 30 years, is just a slice of the estimated $1.4 billion in undeferred maintenance projects needed across the city over the next five years, according to last year’s city budget.
“You can’t go back in time,” said Councilmember Roger Dickinson at an April 2025 City Council meeting. “Hopefully, there are some lessons here for us as we look at other circumstances in the future.”
In June, the city began accepting applications for a new restaurant to take over the former Rio City Cafe space and cafe in the nearby historic Steamers Building. Singer said the applications are currently being evaluated.
These new operators are part of Sacramento’s multimillion Waterfront Reinvestment Program, a series of initiatives to revitalize the area. More than 4 million people visit the Old Sacramento Waterfront annually, according to recent city estimates.
Last November, the City Council approved $25 million for the first phase of the program which consists of a new playground, repairing the boardwalk and replacing public market buildings. A second round of funding, pending council approval, will allocate another $15 million.
