St. Louis Managing Partner Tracy Cowan, as well as Associates Benjamin J. Coudret and Robert F. Kunkel with courtroom assistance from Paralegal Katrina Sroka, obtained a favorable jury verdict in a premises liability case brought in Clay County, Missouri Circuit Court. In this matter, Lewis Brisbois represented a storage facility that was sued for allegedly failing to provide reasonably safe conditions for its tenants and business invitees after the plaintiff claimed to have been severely injured in a slip and fall incident.
Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that she slipped and fell in a pool of water surrounding the exit gate of the premises while attempting to leave the storage facility. She claimed to have sustained a traumatic brain injury along with serious, debilitating, and permanent injuries to her back, wrist, elbow, shoulder, knee, and teeth, allegedly causing her to undergo multiple surgeries and several years of medical and mental health treatment. She made a seven figure demand at the start of trial to resolve her claims.
At trial, the plaintiff submitted past and future medical expenses in the six-figure range and requested that the jury award a multiple of this amount for her alleged pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life. At trial, Tracy was able to point out numerous inconsistencies in the plaintiff's and her boyfriend's stories concerning the alleged incident and the plaintiff's follow-up treatment. Lewis Brisbois also presented several clips of surveillance videos showing the plaintiff engaging in activities entirely inconsistent with the statements she was making to her treatment providers, which plaintiff's counsel chalked up to our investigators catching the plaintiff on a "good day."
The jury deliberated for two hours and ultimately returned a verdict with 40% fault assessed to the plaintiff, resulting in a net verdict against our client of less than 5% of the plaintiff's final pretrial demand.
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