Over $100,000.00 recovery to family suffering smoke inhalation in apartment fire.
The landlord of an apartment building stored paint, chemicals, and other highly flammable materials in a basement locker. The St. Louis Fire Code has a specific statute against the storage of highly flammable materials in basements and near furnaces. A fire resulted from this landlord’s violation of the Fire Code and our clients suffered smoke inhalation. Our clients were grandparents watching their grandchild and their lungs are permanently damaged. Gary went after the landlord and aggressively fought for these grandparents and their grandchildren, who were victims of the landlord’s negligence. A $100,000.00 recovery resulted.
$175,000.00 jury verdict in slip and fall with back injuries.
Our client was injured outside a convenience store when she fell and severely injured her back. She had multiple surgeries and over $100,000.00 in medical treatment. There was video of her fall and a strong witness. Gary tried this case in federal court and a jury found the convenience store at fault. Our client slipped and fell on an area of the property the owner knew was dangerous, resulting in a serious back and spine injury. This was an uphill battle for Gary because the property owner denied liability and did not want to pay our client for the serious back injuries she sustained. Gary tried this case in federal court and a jury found the convenience store at fault. There was $150,000.00 premises liability settlement for our client’s low back injury days before trial.
$875,000 verdict in premises liability trial.
Gary won a large verdict for compensatory and punitive damages in a trial against and absentee landowner who ignored complaints about a defective porch that collapsed and injured our client. After two decisions by the court of appeals and an argument to the Missouri Supreme Court, the judgment was affirmed and over $1 million was collected. Gary represented Evelyn Goodlow who rented an apartment. While Evelyn and her friend were on her balcony at their apartment, the porch collapsed and they fell about 10 feet to a concrete sidewalk below. In this accident, Evelyn sustained a compression fracture of one of her vertebra but she did not receive extensive medical treatment. At trial her medical expenses totaled $26,000.00. In addition to asking for money for compensatory damages, we put on a strong case that the jury should award punitive damages against the Defendant. They agreed and returned a verdict for $625,000.00 in compensatory damages and $250,000.00 in punitive damages. The case was eventually settled on appeal when the Defendant paid more than 1 million dollars to Plaintiff with post judgment interest. The case was actually briefed and decided by the Court of Appeals twice and argued to the Supreme Court of Missouri. The Supreme Court agreed with Plaintiff’s position and the judgment of the trial court below. Evelyn continues to be a close friend to this firm to this day. Case: Evelyn Goodlow v. Clayton Development Corp. Court: City of St. Louis Case No: 098-4223 Verdict: $875,000.00
Undisclosed Settlement with Home Depot
Although the amount of terms of the settlement can not be disclosed, Lisa Maxwell slipped at a Home Depot loading dock on some pieces of wax like paper that was on the floor. Home Depot did not properly clean or dispose of these materials that were separators between some of there products. We established liability in this case and then got Lisa a good recovery to take care of Lisa and her need for knee surgery. Case: Lisa Maxwell v. Home Depot U.S.A. Court: St. Louis City Case No: 052-449 Verdict: Undisclosed
