Confidential
Settlement – $162,500Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Van Nuys
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Thomas G. Stolpman
(Stolpman Law Group)
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Rama Chandran
(medical)
Facts
On March 28, 1988, Plaintiff, age 36 years, was working as an architectural stone mason. He was assigned by his employer to do cosmetic repairs of the granite exterior siding of the Trillium Building in Woodland Hills. In order to do this, he hung his equipment over the side of the building and rappelled down the side of the building. He had been doing this work off and on for several weeks. On this particular date, when he landed on the roof deck (metal decking which had not yet been poured with concrete), a sheet of metal decking, 30 feet by 3 feet, gave way under his foot. His knee twisted and went through the decking and struck a steel beam. The Defendants were the general contractor and a subcontractor who had installed the metal decking, approximately 7 weeks before the accident. Plaintiff admitted in his deposition that he had seen what appeared to be welds which had been cut on the decking in question. Plaintiff had also landed on this decking earlier in the day and did not notice any give or instability of the decking. The welds that Plaintiff had seen appeared to be burned and freshly cut.
Settlement Discussions
Plaintiff contends their pretrial demand was open subject to the Defendants' offering "six figures" and Defendants offered $50,000. Defendants contend that at the time of trial, Plaintiff increased his demand to "seven figures"; the demand then decreased to $250,000 when trial began.
Specials in Evidence
$20,000 $20,000 $100,000
Injuries
Contusion to the left knee causing loose particles in the knee causing osteochondritis dessicans, which resulted in degeneration of the bone and sloughing off of tissue requiring arthroscopic surgery; general weakness of the knee and subsequent injuries to the knee led to a tear of the medial meniscus requiring surgical repair; Plaintiff has been unable to return to work as of the date of the settlement.
Other Information
A previous arbitration by John Bonelli, Esq. resulted in a Plaintiff's award of $120,000 plus the Workers' comp lien of $29,000; trial de novo by Defendants.
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