Kiara Campbell’s Sacramento Waterfront Settlement: $875K, Railing Claim

The City of Sacramento agreed in the summer of 2025 to pay $875,000 to settle the Kiara Campbell Sacramento waterfront settlement case, resolving a lawsuit that blamed missing or inadequate railings for her fall of roughly 30 to 35 feet from a boat walkway at the Old Sacramento Waterfront in July 2022.¹

What Happened on the Walkway

Campbell, a travel nurse, was on the boat walkway at the Old Sacramento Waterfront in July 2022 when she fell an estimated 30 to 35 feet onto a lower platform.¹ Her injuries were severe: a fractured C1 vertebra, multiple skull fractures, a broken rib, and flesh wounds. She was described as “lucky to be alive” but kept function in her arms and legs.

Campbell did not have a permanent nursing position or employer-provided health benefits at the time, and had been scheduled to start a new contract on Vancouver Island five days after the fall. A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $31,000 CAD from 327 donors before donations were paused.²

The Lawsuit Against the City

Campbell filed suit in July 2023 in Sacramento Superior Court, naming the City of Sacramento as the sole defendant. The case was docketed as Kiara Campbell v. City of Sacramento, case number 34-2023-00335583.³ She was represented by the O’Brien & Zehnder Law Firm, which declined to comment publicly.¹

The complaint alleged that the fall was caused by “defective, inadequate and/or absent railings” on the boat walkway. California Government Code Section 835 lets a public entity be held liable for a dangerous condition on its property when the condition foreseeably risked the kind of injury that occurred and the entity either created the hazard or had notice of it with enough time to fix it. Campbell’s theory fit that framework: the city owned the walkway, and the allegation was that its railings were missing or inadequate enough to let someone fall more than 30 feet.

How the $875,000 Is Being Paid

Under the agreement, Campbell receives a one-time lump sum of $542,258, followed by monthly installments running through June 2040.¹ The reporting does not indicate that the city admitted liability, which is typical of municipal settlements.

Councilmember Roger Dickinson acknowledged the case publicly, saying: “You can’t go back in time. Hopefully, there are some lessons here for us as we look at other circumstances in the future.”¹

Why the Railing Claim Had Traction

The condition of the Old Sacramento Waterfront was already a documented problem before Campbell’s fall and remained one after. A CEQA Notice of Exemption filed in April 2025 for “Old Sacramento Waterfront Repairs” acknowledged that the infrastructure was “in disrepair and past its useful life.” The scope of that work included replacing protective hand railings along the docks, recladding wood docks with aluminum decking, and replacing dock lighting and electrical equipment.⁴ The city’s own planned fix list named the exact deficiency Campbell’s lawsuit had alleged.

The deck project at 1110 Front Street told a similar story. A 2019 structural study had deemed the 30-year-old dining deck unsafe, but the city monitored it and performed only temporary fixes for years before ordering its closure in April 2024.⁵ Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum said of that project that it simply “didn’t get to the top of the list” for years because local funding could not be secured.⁶

1
The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento Settles Lawsuit Over Old Sacramento Waterfront Fall
2
GoFundMe. Kiara Campbell’s Rehab Fund
3
Sacramento City Council Agenda. Kiara Campbell v. City of Sacramento, Case No. 34-2023-00335583
4
CEQA Net. Old Sacramento Waterfront Repairs, SCH No. 2025040245
5
The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento City Council Approves Waterfront Deck Replacement
6
KCRA. Old Sacramento Riverfront Deck to Be Redone at Rio City Site