Facts

Plaintiff Hassan Shatila was the owner and operator of Shatila Catering Inc., a catering business, which shared a common wall with Midas Muffler. On March 17, 2004, an employee of Midas Muffler negligently drove a car into the common wall shared with plaintiff, causing a fire to erupt in plaintiff's premises. The fire destroyed equipment and the smoke caused extensive damage to the rest of the premises. As a result of the fire, the plaintiff was forced to shut down its business operations.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiff contended that defendant unreasonably delayed making payments to compensate plaintiff for the damages so that he could re-open his business. As a result of this delay, the plaintiff was unable to restart his business.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The defendant contended that it paid the plaintiff promptly as soon as the plaintiff submitted its bills and receipts to defendant. Further, the defendant contended that plaintiff failed to mitigate its damages.

Settlement Discussions

The plaintiff demanded $250,000. The defendant offered $135,000.

Result

Verdict for $354,000 ($177,000 for past economic loss; $177,000 for future economic loss).

Other Information

FILING DATE: Sept. 19, 2005.

Deliberation

30 minutes

Poll

unanimous

Length

four days