The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel secured an $11 Million pre-suit, policy limit settlement in a premises liability case involving the catastrophic injury of a 9-year-old boy.
On the morning of January 8, 2022, Mathew Jousett was playing inside the bedroom of his father’s apartment in the Greenwich Condominiums (1470 NE 123 Street, North Miami, Florida). At some point, one of his father’s girlfriend’s kids saw a window screen fall and immediately told his mother’s boyfriend, Thomas. It was then that Thomas, Mathew’s father, looked outside and saw the unthinkable: his son’s lifeless body on the concrete sidewalk.
The child fell 7 stories. He was rushed to the hospital.
Mathew’s parents, Maria and Thomas, were instructed to say their goodbyes, anticipating the child would not survive through the night. The next morning Mathew’s arms were moving. Having sustained a severe traumatic brain injury, Mathew’s entire life was upended that day. He now requires around-the-clock care. He is unable to speak or walk and barely resembles his former self.
Representing Mathew and his parents, The Haggard Law Firm served several demand letters upon the homeowner’s association and management company in charge of the apartment building and engaged in pre-suit discussions with their attorneys. Highlighting decades of studies detailing that safeguards are needed to prevent these very types of incidents, references to safeguards in applicable codes, and even referencing guidance from other similarly situated management companies that advise that such safeguards are necessary and cost-efficient, The Haggard Law Firm argued that Mathew’s injury was not only entirely foreseeable but preventable.
While initially contesting whether the HOA and management company had control over the relevant areas of the window and building, and perhaps contesting foreseeability and proximate cause, the HOA, management company and their insurers ultimately tendered the $11 Million policy limits as a pre-suit resolution.
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