Marietta Man Wins $1.78M after Motel Fall
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Atlanta Injury Attorneys James Imbriale, Jeff Yashinsky, and Michael Gumprecht of Hartman-Imbriale represent a slip-and-fall case against a Statesboro motel, leading to a $1.78 million verdict from a jury in Bulloch County Superior Court. A slip-and-fall case against a Statesboro motel led to a $1.78 million verdict from a Bulloch County Superior Court jury.
“I feel like it was a fair verdict,” said Jeffrey P. Shiver of Law & Moran, lead counsel for Nicko Karamitros, now 30, who hit his head on a concrete exterior walkway after slipping in a puddle of water that was formed from a dripping air conditioner. “This guy had spent nearly three years trying to prove to these people that he was hurt and they should have corrected the problem,” said Shriver.
Since then, Karamitros has suffered from headaches, ringing in the ears, hearing loss and vision problems, and accumulated $45,000 in medical bills, according to Shiver, who tried the case with James F. Imbriale and Jeffrey P. Yashinsky of Hartman-Imbriale in Woodstock.
“All I can say at this point is we obviously were disappointed in the verdict,” said Mason White of Brennan, Harris & Rominger of Savannah, who represented the defendant, a franchise owned Hampton Inn operating under the name Statesboro Motel NG. “We felt like it was excessive. We’re exploring the appeal options at this point.” “They had an excellent attorney,” Shiver said of his adversary. “Mason White is as good as it gets.”
The jury deliberated for three and a half hours on Oct. 22 before returning a verdict awarding $1,528,925.60 in compensatory damages, which Shiver said was to the penny the low end of the amount he requested. His high end was $2.4 million. The jury also added $250,000 in punitive damages, for a total of $1.78 million. Shiver said he thought the jury showed restraint. “I feel like it wasn’t an aggravated verdict,” said Shiver. “This was not an angry jury.”
The trial before Bulloch County Superior Court Judge John R. Turner took two days, separated by two weeks from jury selection, which also took two days.
Shiver said the defendant made a high-low offer that he refused, but declined to give amounts. He said the hotel is covered by a $10 million Hartford Insurance Co. liability policy.
The accident occurred on Aug. 18, 2007, the day Karamitros arrived in Statesboro along with his parents to cook and sell Greek food at the local Peanut Festival. The family had just checked into the Hampton Inn. Unlike the newer Hampton Inns with interior hallways, the Statesboro property has exterior entrances and concrete walkways. According to his lawyers: The son led the way up the stairs to find their room. At the top of the stairs, he turned to look for the room number, not noticing the water under the exterior portion of an air conditioning unit. Karamitros, then 27, slipped and fell, hitting his head hard on the concrete.
His mother came to his aid and obtained ice from the hotel to place on his head. She also told the front desk about the problem. Although his head was hurting, the family had work to do. They went out to the festival to set up their tent and equipment for the next day. When they returned to the hotel for the night, the puddle was still there, and had grown, according to the plaintiff’s attorneys. Puddles were also standing under other air conditioning units, they said.
The plaintiff did not seek medical attention for about four weeks, during which time the headaches continued and vision and hearing difficulties worsened. Finally, back at home in Marietta, he saw his doctor, who referred him to specialists.
Despite the headaches, vision and hearing problems, the plaintiff continued working in his family business, the Greek festival food service that led to the Statesboro trip.
“They had a recurrent unsafe condition that they refused to address,” Shiver said. “They denied liability from the beginning and basically said in a letter it was an open and obvious problem. They said the reason he fell was not their negligence, but his failure to look where he was going.
“Their chief defense was that they had been open for 20 years and this had never happened before,” Shiver said. “Their position was nothing can be done.”
Shiver’s position was that the problem with the air conditioning units could have and should have been corrected. As it happened, the jury pool included an air conditioner repair technician. “We took a gamble,” said Shiver, and placed the repairman on the jury. The technician later told lawyers he agreed with the plaintiff that the problem could have been fixed.
The plaintiff’s lawyers also called three hotel employees—the executive housekeeper, a maintenance worker and a front desk clerk—to testify to the existence of the problem. And they used videotaped testimony from three doctors who treated Karimitros—a primary care physician, a neurologist and a hearing specialist—to show the permanent nature of his headaches, hearing loss, vision problem and ringing in the ears.
“We didn’t have any retained experts,” Shiver said. Other than the presence of an air conditioner repair tech, the composition of the jury was not unusual, the lawyers said—four black jurors, eight women, age range 30 to 60.
The plaintiff’s attorneys said one of the witnesses who helped them the most was called by the defense: Dail DuBose, who spoke on behalf of the company that owns the hotel. “He’s a nice looking business man. He made a good impression. But he said a couple of things the jury didn’t like,” said Yashinsky. “He said people wouldn’t fall if they were watching where they were going.”
On cross examination, Shiver was able to press DuBose to admit that the hotel had policies and procedures that were not followed. “Can we now finally agree that the policies weren’t working at the Hampton Inn that day,” Shiver said he asked. The answer: “Yes.”
The case is Nicko Karamitros v. Statesboro Motel NG, civil action No. 1B08CV507T.
AUTHOR: Katheryn Hayes Tucker
Copyright Hartman-Imbriale LLP
More information about Hartman-Imbriale LLP
Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
Since then, Karamitros has suffered from headaches, ringing in the ears, hearing loss and vision problems, and accumulated $45,000 in medical bills, according to Shiver, who tried the case with James F. Imbriale and Jeffrey P. Yashinsky of Hartman-Imbriale in Woodstock.
“All I can say at this point is we obviously were disappointed in the verdict,” said Mason White of Brennan, Harris & Rominger of Savannah, who represented the defendant, a franchise owned Hampton Inn operating under the name Statesboro Motel NG. “We felt like it was excessive. We’re exploring the appeal options at this point.” “They had an excellent attorney,” Shiver said of his adversary. “Mason White is as good as it gets.”
The jury deliberated for three and a half hours on Oct. 22 before returning a verdict awarding $1,528,925.60 in compensatory damages, which Shiver said was to the penny the low end of the amount he requested. His high end was $2.4 million. The jury also added $250,000 in punitive damages, for a total of $1.78 million. Shiver said he thought the jury showed restraint. “I feel like it wasn’t an aggravated verdict,” said Shiver. “This was not an angry jury.”
The trial before Bulloch County Superior Court Judge John R. Turner took two days, separated by two weeks from jury selection, which also took two days.
Shiver said the defendant made a high-low offer that he refused, but declined to give amounts. He said the hotel is covered by a $10 million Hartford Insurance Co. liability policy.
The accident occurred on Aug. 18, 2007, the day Karamitros arrived in Statesboro along with his parents to cook and sell Greek food at the local Peanut Festival. The family had just checked into the Hampton Inn. Unlike the newer Hampton Inns with interior hallways, the Statesboro property has exterior entrances and concrete walkways. According to his lawyers: The son led the way up the stairs to find their room. At the top of the stairs, he turned to look for the room number, not noticing the water under the exterior portion of an air conditioning unit. Karamitros, then 27, slipped and fell, hitting his head hard on the concrete.
His mother came to his aid and obtained ice from the hotel to place on his head. She also told the front desk about the problem. Although his head was hurting, the family had work to do. They went out to the festival to set up their tent and equipment for the next day. When they returned to the hotel for the night, the puddle was still there, and had grown, according to the plaintiff’s attorneys. Puddles were also standing under other air conditioning units, they said.
The plaintiff did not seek medical attention for about four weeks, during which time the headaches continued and vision and hearing difficulties worsened. Finally, back at home in Marietta, he saw his doctor, who referred him to specialists.
Despite the headaches, vision and hearing problems, the plaintiff continued working in his family business, the Greek festival food service that led to the Statesboro trip.
“They had a recurrent unsafe condition that they refused to address,” Shiver said. “They denied liability from the beginning and basically said in a letter it was an open and obvious problem. They said the reason he fell was not their negligence, but his failure to look where he was going.
“Their chief defense was that they had been open for 20 years and this had never happened before,” Shiver said. “Their position was nothing can be done.”
Shiver’s position was that the problem with the air conditioning units could have and should have been corrected. As it happened, the jury pool included an air conditioner repair technician. “We took a gamble,” said Shiver, and placed the repairman on the jury. The technician later told lawyers he agreed with the plaintiff that the problem could have been fixed.
The plaintiff’s lawyers also called three hotel employees—the executive housekeeper, a maintenance worker and a front desk clerk—to testify to the existence of the problem. And they used videotaped testimony from three doctors who treated Karimitros—a primary care physician, a neurologist and a hearing specialist—to show the permanent nature of his headaches, hearing loss, vision problem and ringing in the ears.
“We didn’t have any retained experts,” Shiver said. Other than the presence of an air conditioner repair tech, the composition of the jury was not unusual, the lawyers said—four black jurors, eight women, age range 30 to 60.
The plaintiff’s attorneys said one of the witnesses who helped them the most was called by the defense: Dail DuBose, who spoke on behalf of the company that owns the hotel. “He’s a nice looking business man. He made a good impression. But he said a couple of things the jury didn’t like,” said Yashinsky. “He said people wouldn’t fall if they were watching where they were going.”
On cross examination, Shiver was able to press DuBose to admit that the hotel had policies and procedures that were not followed. “Can we now finally agree that the policies weren’t working at the Hampton Inn that day,” Shiver said he asked. The answer: “Yes.”
The case is Nicko Karamitros v. Statesboro Motel NG, civil action No. 1B08CV507T.
AUTHOR: Katheryn Hayes Tucker
Copyright Hartman-Imbriale LLP
More information about Hartman-Imbriale LLP
View all articles published by Hartman-Imbriale LLP
Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
