First Trial for Lipe Lyons Results in Defense Win
March 4, 2013Jeff Lipe and Lauren Tuckey successfully represented the Weitz Company, an internationally known full-service general contractor, design-builder and construction manager in the case of Michael Rizner v. The Weitz Company, LLC v. Prate Installations. Plaintiff was a sheet metal worker employed by Prate Installations at the Clare Oaks construction site in Bartlett, Illinois, a 370,000 square foot senior living facility. Plaintiff was in the process of installing expansion joints in the building’s gutters, which had been missed when the gutters were originally put in, and was working off a 60 foot extension ladder. Plaintiff was working at the top of the ladder without using fall protection, in violation of Weitz’s 6 foot fall protection rule, allegedly because no anchor points existed and plaintiff could not gain access to the roof in order to set an anchor point. The top section of the ladder collapsed, apparently because the hooks were frozen, and plaintiff fell 40 feet to the ground, sustaining a fractured left humerus, open book fractures of the pelvis, transverse process fractures of several vertebra, torn rotator cuff, severed ureter and permanent erectile dysfunction. Plaintiff’s medical expenses were stipulated to be $336,176.91, and plaintiff made a claim for $1,785,000 in past and future lost income as disabled from returning to sheet metal work. Plaintiff asked the jury for $9,620,428.91 for Michael Rizner, and $2.5 million for Juliana Rizner on her loss of consortium claim. The last offer prior to verdict was $1.25 million plus a waiver of the $540,000 worker’s compensation lien. The jury returned a net verdict of $973,676.87 ($1,738,708.78 less 44% plaintiff fault), and allocated 16% fault against The Weitz Company, and 40% against third party defendant Prate Installations. The jury awarded no damages to Juliana Rizner on her loss of consortium claim. The verdict is subject to a $100,000 settlement with a prior defendant. Defense recommended $1,000,000 for Michael Rizner, and $100,000 for Juliana Rizner. The trial was January 28, 2013-February 15, 2013.