Facts

The plaintiff and defendant went to the defendant's house to sit in the back yard and have tea. Plaintiff noticed the defendant's orange tree and the defendant offered to climb up and get an orange for the plaintiff. The defendant got a four-legged stool and climbed up on it to obtain an orange. While he was reaching for an orange, he lost balance and fell on the plaintiff's back. The plaintiff weighed 120 pounds, and the defendant 215 pounds. The plaintiff's face was jammed into a large boulder resulting in a blow out fracture to his left eye, a deviated septum, and alleged blindness in the left eye, headaches, loss of teeth, depression and TMJ.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that the vision in his left eye, after the accident, was 20/200 and that he lost his entire filed of vision except for a very small area in the central field of vision. As a result, he contended that he could no longer work in this profession as a finisher because of the need for binocular vision. He also contended that he suffered a deviated septum, loss of several teeth, TMJ, neck and back pains, chronic headaches and various other problems. Plaintiff also asserted that he was severely depressed as a result of the incident.

Plaintiff alleged this was a clear liability case with no comparative negligence.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The defendant contended that the plaintiff shared responsibility for the accident since the plaintiff was within three feet of the defendant at the time he climbed the stool. The plaintiff failed to steady the stool or offer to assist the defendant in any way. With respect to damages, the defendant contended that the plaintiff was not blind in his left eye based on various tests that had been performed and further contended that the allegations of dental problems including TMJ did not arise until several years after the incident, and therefore, were unrelated. Defendant also contended that the alleged depression preexisted the incident, and that plaintiff had failed to prove any significant loss of ability to work.

Settlement Discussions

There were several crash settlement conferences which did not result in settlement. Generally, the plaintiff's demand was in excess of $1 million, although at the last settlement conference, there was an indication that the plaintiffs would take $500,000. C.C.P. Section 998 in the amount of $150,000 was sent in April 2006 by the defense.

Specials in Evidence

$30,000; $70,000; $150,000. $100,000;

Damages

Past economic: $25,802; non-economic: $50,000. Total award: $53,061.40. It is anticipated that this award will be substantially reduced as a result of plaintiff's failure to accept the C.C.P. Section Code 998 Offer to Compromise in the amount of $150,000.

Result

Verdict, $75,802. Thirty percent comparative negligence against plaintiff, for a net verdict of $53,061.40.

Deliberation

three hours

Poll

10-2

Length

three weeks