This is a continuation of my blog post titled, “A Slip and Fall in an Icy Parking Lot Yields a $ 700K Jury Verdict in Fulton County, Georgia for the Plaintiff ~ part one.”
The Defendants Transwestern and Istar made several claims against Walden for failure to maintain the property properly under the circumstances and for failing to have proper insurance. It was disclosed in mediation that Walden did in fact fulfill its portion of its contractual duties to maintain the sidewalk and other walkways in the front of the building.
What was at question was whether or not Walden adequately maintained the parking spaces in the lot of the building. There were thousands of spaces to maintain, approximately 200,000, and it was Walden’s contention that it was able to maintain approximately one-half which would have been 100,000.
On November 17 the jury trial began in front of Judge Myra Dixon of the State Court of Fulton County, Georgia. What is interesting is that the Defendants had been vigorously fighting with each other the entire time prior to trial but when it came time to try the case they were no longer at each other’s throats but were actually complimentary to each other with how well the situation had been handled by each party under the circumstances. Nevertheless, the parties were again fighting by the end of the trial.
The Plaintiff’s employer was also brought into question for liability under the circumstances for allowing their employees to participate in such an activity at all given the weather issues. The jury agreed with this argument and apportioned a percentage of liability to the employer as a result.
Given all the other legal arguments that the jury had to consider such as whether or not Transwestern alerted the tenants in enough time to safely vacate the building, and whether or not the Plaintiff would indeed need further surgeries or if that was pure speculation, after four (4) days of trial and approximately two and a half hours (2 1/2 hours) of deliberation, the Jury returned a verdict in favor of the Plaintiff in the amount of $ 700,000, less the 5% it allocated to the Plaintiff’s employer, bringing the Plaintiff’s total award to $ 665,000.
Some jurors stated post-trial that they did not believe that Transwestern warned the tenants in the building in a timely manner given the bad weather and that they liked the attorney for the security company, and that they also like the security guard. The case is Bitoy v. Transwestern Commercial Services, No. 12EV014602.
At Julie A. Rice, Attorney at Law, & Affiliates we have represented hundreds of people who have been injured on the property of another due to the negligence of another. These cases in Georgia are not easy cases to win and can be very difficult. Therefore, it is very important that you have competent and experienced legal counsel on your side to insure that you receive a winning verdict under the circumstances.
If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed on the property of another, then Contact Us at any time for your free legal consultation so that we may do a complete evaluation of your case. We want you to be on the winning end of your Premises Liability Case.