Adams & Brown v. PLH Investors, et al.
Published: Sep. 7, 1996 | Result Date: Aug. 23, 1996 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: SCV207591 – $1,000,000
Judge
Court
Sonoma Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Thomas M. Downey
(Burnham Brown)
Thomas M. Downey
(Burnham Brown)
Experts
Plaintiff
Ken Todd
(technical)
Jerry L. Hildreth
(technical)
Ken Todd
(technical)
Jerry L. Hildreth
(technical)
Defendant
Steven R. Fisk
(technical)
Wes Daniels
(technical)
Steven R. Fisk
(technical)
Wes Daniels
(technical)
Facts
On May 13, 1993, plaintiff Dan Adams, a 31-year-old carpenter and plaintiff Warren Brown, a 40-year-old carpenter, were seriously injured when a large wood-framed wall fell on them during the course of their employment as carpenters with Hageman Framing. Hageman Framing was framing semi-custom homes in a residential subdivision in Santa Rosa. The wall was nearly twenty feet high and weighed approximately one ton. The wall was being raised manually from a horizontal to a vertical position by seven people under the direction of Charles Hageman, the owner of Hageman Framing. These individuals were unable to lift the wall into position, and it crashed back toward them, striking and seriously injuring both plaintiffs. The plaintiffs brought this action against the defendants, PLH Investors -- the subdivision's owner and developer and Patrick Lockwood -- the general contractor and a PLH partner, based on negligence and respondeat superior theories of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff made a settlement demand for the $1 million policy limits. The defendants made a settlement offer of $150,000 at the court ordered settlement conference.
Specials in Evidence
$__________ (plaintiff Adams); $_________ (plaintiff Woods) $__________ (plaintiff Adams); $_________ (plaintiff Woods) $__________ (plaintiff Adams); $_________ (plaintiff Woods) $__________ (plaintiff Adams); $_________ (plaintiff Woods)
Other Information
The verdict was reached approximately two years and four months after the case was filed. The plaintiffs claimed the jury returned a verdict in their favor on all theories. Prior to trial, the parties stipulated that should the jury allocate 50% or more of the total fault for the accident to any insured defendant, the entire $1 million policy limit would be paid to the plaintiffs. The insured defendants included PLH Investors, all individual members of that partnership and Patrick Lockwood acting in his capacity as general contractor. Pursuant to that stipulation, only the liability issues were tried.
Deliberation
8 hours
Length
5 days
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