Stonington — State Sen. Andrew Maynard, D-18th District, has filed a lawsuit against his former landlord alleging that a defective staircase at his Grandview Avenue apartment caused the July 2014 fall in which he suffered a traumatic brain injury.

The injury has made it difficult for the legislator to speak, and according to the lawsuit against landlord and former borough Warden Dorothy Papp, also led to a seizure that caused him to crash his car on Route 32 this past January. Despite being in rehabilitation and unable to answer questions or debate, Maynard was re-elected in 2014 but will not seek re-election this November.

The suit states that his many injuries are permanent and that he will require extensive ongoing treatment and be unable to participate in many activities.

According to the suit, on the night of July 21, 2014, Maynard was on the exterior staircase “when he was caused to fall over the railing and/or guard onto the ground below and suffer severe and permanent injuries to his head and body.”

Police have said Maynard was injured at 2:39 a.m. when he fell over the outside staircase while carrying a large object up to a second-floor apartment. Police classified the fall as an accident.

The suit cites numerous sections of state and international building codes that it alleges the stairwell violated.

Maynard’s attorney, Kelly Reardon of New London, said Sunday her firm investigated the staircase before filing the lawsuit and a building code expert who inspected it found a number of violations.

She said the staircase where Maynard fell was “unfortunately” not up to code.

“The railing in particular was very low,” she said.

“The main focus is the fact that the railing in question was a number of inches lower than it should have been, which unfortunately resulted in him falling over it.”

She said Papp has insurance and her insurance company will provide a lawyer.

“Hopefully it can be resolved.”

Papp could not be reached to comment Sunday.

j.wojtas@theday.com

m.shanahan@theday.com