$110,000 Premises Liability Settlement

category: Premises Liability

$110,000 Premises Liability Settlement

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$110,000 Premises Liability Settlement. A 61-year-old male suffered serious neck/shoulder injuries on a neighbor’s farm while in the process of purchasing hay bales from said defendant neighbor. Our client desired to purchase these extra-large bales twined together in a heavy rectangle approximately 10’ x 5’ x 4’, and the defendant agreed and wanted to sell them from high up in his barn loft. There was no question of the incident occurring, and which could have been even more devastating to the plaintiff, as in death. Questions arose as to the plaintiff’s own contributory fault, if any, by where he stood in the barn before bales fell from above and impacting him. The process for unloading the hay bales from above the loft was directed by the defendant neighbor/owner (and who passed due to unrelated reasons before this matter could be tried or settled). Plaintiff stood on the ground in the barn about as far away from harm as possible without exiting the barn at the point in time just before the incident. The defendant could have arranged for a tractor with a front-end loader to secure the bales and bring them down from the loft, but instead opted to back in the plaintiff’s truck with a bed, hoping to “push off” a singular large bale from above and with the assistance of plaintiff’s handyman who joined the defendant in the loft. It was subsequently determined that the defendant cut the twine in key parts holding the smaller bales together, believing that it would thereby be easier to push off the bales down below. Defendant and the handyman then pushed off from the loft above, and the bales came down crooked and likely pulling apart (though disputed), but ultimately landing partly in the truck bed and the next outside the truck and violently impacting the plaintiff.

Plaintiff suffered a major rotator cuff tear requiring an open procedure with acromioplasty, distal clavicle excision with biceps tendonitis. This injury impacted his ability to continue to perform his major manufacturing job with a worldwide employer. These injuries, together with some additional, unrelated health issues, combined to qualify him for Social Security disability income benefits. His medical charges from the incident totaled $83,269.32 and his wage losses were in the $82,000.00 range.

The Dead Man’s Act limited crucial evidence sought by the plaintiff from discussions with the deceased defendant. The only independent, key lone witness to what occurred was the handyman with his observations. There were issues as to the division of fault and the quality of the evidence from the handyman who had a felony record. A trial could have resulted in a zero verdict without testimony by the deceased defendant and the risk of a jury finding the plaintiff more than half at fault and thereby barring any recovery. The case settled for $180,000.00 with a substantial reduction in lien payouts, thereby providing a $110,000.00 net to the plaintiff.