Pensacola Partners Grayson Miller and Laura LaBianca Puente achieved a significant defense verdict following a 4-day premises liability trial in Okaloosa County. This case centered on a Plaintiff who suffered an ankle fracture and dislocation after tripping and falling outside a parking garage at our client’s vacation resort. Plaintiff alleged the area where she tripped violated various building codes, and Plaintiff asked the jury for damages ranging between $13 million to $17 million based on a projected life expectancy of 55 years.
Despite certain challenges including Defendant admitting actual notice of the condition and calling no experts or witnesses in its case-in-chief, the defense successfully argued that despite whether the condition may have been a violation of building code, the condition was not “unreasonably dangerous” for a variety of reasons including the lack of prior accidents at the subject location. The defense also questioned Plaintiff’s alleged mechanism of injury based on her description of the accident in her hospital records and some other features of the accident.
The jury returned a defense verdict after just 2 hours of deliberation and determined the condition at-issue was not negligent.
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