Erica Parsons and Jason Hammer Secure Defense Verdict in Gwinnett County
Erica Parsons and Jason Hammer secured a defense verdict for their client in Gwinnett County State Court after a one-week jury trial. The case arose from a 2010 incident in which the Plaintiff was exercising on a weight machine at his gym. After completing his exercises, the Plaintiff attempted to secure the 245 pound bar in place, but it fell on his neck and shoulder, taking him all the way to the ground. The Plaintiff, a 64 year-old former football and basketball coach, injured his neck, shoulder and knee, requiring a 2-level cervical fusion, multiple procedures on his shoulder to repair a torn rotator cuff, and surgery on his knee to repair a torn meniscus. The Plaintiff’s medical expense totaled $134,000.00. Plaintiff filed suit against the gym, an international fitness center company, alleging the Defendant negligently failed to properly train him how to use the machine and that the machine was an inherently dangerous product and the gym failed to keep their premises safe. After four years of litigation, including extensive motions practice resulting in Plaintiff’s claims being narrowed significantly, as well as his testifying expert being excluded, the case was tried to a Gwinnett County jury in January of 2016. The Plaintiff asked the jury to award $1,300,000 in compensatory damages. The crux of the defense was that Plaintiff’s own negligence was the sole proximate cause of his injuries. The jury agreed and returned a verdict in favor of the Defendant. Post-trial motions are being filed to address Defendant’s attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation. The Defendant served a statutory offer of settlement two years prior and subsequently incurred approximately $75,000.00 in fees and expenses.
Erica L. Parsons is a Partner in the Buckhead office of Lueder, Larkin & Hunter, LLC. She has more than a decade of experience advising insurers in the management of risk through representation in complex coverage and bad faith litigation. Erica can be reached at eparsons@luederlaw.com.
Jason W. Hammer is a partner with the law firm of Lueder, Larkin & Hunter, LLC in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practices primarily in general liability litigation, including everything from basic car wrecks to complex wrongful death cases. Jason can be reached at jhammer@luederlaw.com.