HBO executive Nancy Lesser has filed a lawsuit against the Television Academy and the City of Los Angeles over an accident at the 2016 Emmy Awards in which she slipped and broke her pelvis.
Lesser, the executive vice president of media and talent relations, was leaving the awards show at the Microsoft Theater when she stepped into a dirt cut-out space in the concrete and fell on her hip, according to the suit.
Lesser says she suffered at least three fractures to her pelvis, and was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was unable to attend HBO’s after-party, and instead spent the next month in a hospital and a rehab center. According to the suit, she was not able to return to work for another eight months, and had round-the-clock care at her home. When she returned from disability, she was able to work from the office only twice a week, and required a car and driver to get there.
She says her medical bills are in excess of $1 million.
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Lesser’s lawsuit holds the TV Academy and the city at fault for her injuries. She said she first attempted to leave through the main exit of the theater, but was blocked by a large throng of people. She said she was directed to leave through a side exit, which went out to a poorly lit sidewalk. She alleges that the organizers and the city were negligent in failing to provide adequate egress and lighting.
The city has rejected her administrative claim.
