Case Examples: Premises and General Liability

Defective Circuit Breakers in Apartment - $10,500,000 Verdict

In favor of our client, whose 4-year old daughter died in an apartment fire but only after she frantically tried to save her. The verdict was against the building owner which improperly installed the wrong circuit breakers in the apartment building. As a result, heat which was generated from an overloaded circuit caused a fire in the apartment. Expert testimony demonstrated that the fire would have been prevented had the appropriate circuit breakers been installed to shut down the electrical source of the heat, which ultimately resulted in the fire. Jury unanimously held that the owner was negligent in failing to have adequate circuit breakers and rendered one of the largest awards ever for the death of an infant.

Our client, a deliveryman, tripped and fell over a concrete footing that was being constructed. The major injury claimed was exacerbation of underlying multiple sclerosis. Defendant argued that such a condition could not be aggravated by trauma. We successfully proved to the Jury otherwise.

Our client, a telephone lineman, was rendered a paraplegic when the telephone pole he had climbed fell over. The pole had previously been cut by his employer. We proved that the Utility Company was negligent in failing to maintain the pole or in not warning our client of the danger.

Reached during trial for our client, a deliveryman, shot by two unknown assailants who were able to gain entry through the unattended front door of an apartment building. Our client was left paralyzed below the waist. We claimed that the building's security was inadequate in not having a guard posted at the entrance at all times in light of the history of crime in the building area, according to records we obtained.

In favor of our client, a 4-year-old, who fell out of an apartment window, which was not properly equipped with a window guard. As a result of the fall our client was in a coma for 5 days and was forced to take special education classes. The defendants argued that our client's problems were congenital but the jury found in our client's favor.

Our client, a patron of a high-end retail department store, slipped and fell on a wet terrazzo floor suffering a fractured hip. The Jury found the establishment to have been 100% at fault in not putting down mats at the entrance once it began to rain.

Against Foster Care Placement agency and in favor of our client, a l0-year old child, who was repeatedly molested by her foster father during a four-month foster care placement. The jury found the placement agency liable for their failure to provide warranted therapeutic care which would have disclosed the ongoing abuse.

For our client, a third grade student on a school trip, who was struck by a taxicab. The student's shoelace became untied and when she reported it to the school aide, she was not permitted to stop and tie it. Rather, she was told to keep moving so that they would not lose the rest of the group. When she got to the intersection, someone stepped on her untied shoelace, causing her to fall and roll on the street where she was hit by a taxicab. The student suffered from multiple fractures to her right leg. The jury found the Board of Education 85% liable and the taxicab 15% liable.

Against the building owner and contractor, and in favor of our client, who tripped over a raised masonite strip taped over an expansion joint in front of the Building in which she was a tenant. We proved that the strips had not been properly placed. She suffered torn ligaments of the wrist leading to arthritis, arthroscopic surgery and eventually a wrist fusion.