Verdicts by Attorney: Petrillo, Anthony J.
$1.7 M Sought | Morgan and Morgan | Jury Returned a complete Defense Verdict | Slip and Fall | Orange County.
On January 19, 2024, Managing Partner Tony Petrillo and Senior Partner Jeff Benson obtained a complete defense verdict in a premises liability matter styled Plaintiff 52 Year Old Landscaper v. Defendant Retail Store in Orange County, Florida. The Plaintiff claimed he slipped and fell as he was walking out of the Defendant's store due to accumulated water from an employee’s unauthorized use of a watering hose. The Plaintiff subsequently had a two-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at C3-4 and C4-5. His orthopedic surgeon testified he would need another neck surgery due to adjacent level disc disease that would cost $75,000.00 and a separate low back surgery in the future that would cost $100,000.00. Plaintiff started trial claiming over $400,000.00 in past medical bills but ended trial conceding to $165,000.00 in past medical bills due to the defense proving that was the true reasonable and necessary value. The Defendant avoided any spoliation jury instruction because Plaintiff failed to prove that a duty to preserve surveillance video existed, even though a generic preservation letter was sent 18 days after the alleged incident. During closing arguments Plaintiff demanded $1.7 million. The jury returned a verdict finding no negligence. Read More.
Tallahassee, Defense Verdict, $500,00 sought. Plaintiff was seeking to recover approx. $500,000 in damages at trial however the jury rendered a defense verdict of no liability. Defendant had a proposal for settlement and is moving for attorney’s fees and costs.
Managing Partners, Anthony J. Petrillo, Esq., and Audra M. Bryant, Esq., obtained a defense verdict of no liability in a slip and fall matter styled Cindy Dougherty v. Defendant Retail Store on July 13, 2021. The plaintiff was seeking to recover approximately $500,000 in damages at trial.
This case arises out of an incident occurring on August 20, 2014 at a retail store in Tallahassee, Florida. On that date, while inside the store obtaining her items, the Plaintiff slipped and fell on an oily substance on the floor. The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant negligently maintained its premises by allowing an oily substance to accumulate on the floor.
The Plaintiff claimed that she sustained injuries to her hip, shoulder, feet and back resulting in over $200,000 in past medical expenses. The majority of her past economic damages were related to a hip and a shoulder surgery.
The Plaintiff’s theory of liability was that the retail store had actual notice of the condition as it failed to repair a forklift that leaked hydraulic fluid. The Defendant was able to easily disprove this theory and demonstrate that it was pursued with the flimsiest of evidence.
The Defendant moved for directed verdict on causation as to the plaintiff’s hip and shoulder surgeries and for directed verdict on future economic damages. After vigorous argument, the Defendant prevailed on both motions. Resultantly, the Defendant successfully limited the plaintiff to boardable past medical expenses of $18,700 and prohibited the plaintiff’s recovery of any future economic damages. The Defendant also moved for directed verdict on liability and the Court took the motion under advisement. Notably, the Court strongly indicated that the motion for directed verdict on liability would be granted, however, the Court wanted to first obtain the jury’s verdict.
After deliberating for less than 2 hours, the jury sided with the Defendant and rendered a defense verdict. The Defendant previously served a proposal for settlement that was rejected by the Plaintiff. Accordingly, the Defendant will be filing a motion to recover its attorney’s fees and costs. Read more
Managing Partners Anthony Petrillo, Esq., and Anthony Merendino, Esq., obtained a favorable result in a personal injury matter styled Connie Ader v. Defendant Retail Store in the Circuit Court of Lake County, Florida. Plaintiff asked the jury for $1.1 million dollars at trial. The jury returned a verdict for $20,000 for the Plaintiff however Defendant had a proposal for settlement and is moving for attorney's fees and costs.
Plaintiff alleged that while she was a business invitee of Defendant Retail Store, she sustained a permanent ulnar nerve injury in her left upper extremity as a result of cutting her left forearm on a display basket while walking past it at a Defendant Retail store. According to the Plaintiff, her left forearm was impaled by an allegedly defective display basket. Plaintiff’s position was that the allegedly defective wire basket either impacted her ulnar nerve or cut through the sensory branches of the ulnar nerve. Plaintiff claimed that as a result of the incident, she experienced pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, and burning in her left upper extremity, specifically, the 4th and 5th digits of her left hand, which caused her an inability to wear her wedding ring or grip/hold things including, among other things, a cell phone, golf club, bicycle handle, and her husband’s hand. Plaintiff sought damages for past and future pain & suffering, mental anguish, disability, disfigurement, inconvenience, and loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life.
Prior to trial, Defendant Retail Store admitted liability. At trial, an adverse inference instruction was given to the jury regarding Defendant Retail Store's loss of certain evidence (display basket) which allowed the jury to infer that the missing evidence was unfavorable to Defendant Retail Store. Plaintiff asked the jury for $1.1 million dollars at trial using a per diem argument that Plaintiff should be awarded $8.00 per hour for the 5 years since the incident and the estimated 20 years she is projected to live under the Mortality Table guidelines (excluding 8 hours per day for sleeping).
Prior to trial, Defendant Retail Store served a Proposal for Settlement (“PFS”) on the Plaintiff, and depending on the amount of Plaintiff’s recoverable costs incurred prior to the date of the PFS, Defendant Retail Store will likely be entitled to recover its attorney’s fees and costs from the Plaintiff from the date the PFS was served. Read more
On September 20, 2018, Tampa Managing Partner Anthony Petrillo, Esq. and Senior Associate Michael Bohneberger, Esq. received a defense verdict in the slip and fall matter styled Smith, Jonnie Mae v. United Services Group. Plaintiff alleged that she slipped in a puddle of dark liquid located on the floor in front of the Dairy Queen/Orange Julius located inside the University Mall. Video surveillance footage of the area was able to show that no such puddle existed. The case was bifurcated and only liability was at issue at the time the Defense verdict was entered. Read More
On June 19, 2017, following a 6 day trial, Tampa Managing Partner, Anthony Petrillo, Esq. and Partner Joseph Kopacz , Esq. obtained a favorable jury verdict in the matter styled Tracy Demoss v. Tagco Oil Company in front of Judge Schaefer, in Pinellas County, Florida. This action arose from a Slip-and-Fall accident in the parking lot of TAGCO on August 30, 2015. At the time of the alleged fall, Plaintiff was wearing worn out flip-flops and alleged she slipped when she encountered a yellow-strip in the parking lot. Plaintiff claims the yellow strip did not have the required shark grip/additives presenting a sudden and unexpected change in slip resistance causing her to fall. Defendant argued the parking lot was in compliance with all applicable codes and industry standards. The yellow strips were slip resistant and no additional shark grip/additives were required to be used in this particular area that was a fire zone. Following this fall, Plaintiff had two surgeries including a right shoulder surgery and neck surgery at C6-C7 (Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion). The shoulder surgery was to repair a torn labrum and a complete supraspinatus tear. Plaintiff’s medical bills were in excess of $419,000 and all plaintiff’s medical bills were billed under Letters of Protection (“LOP”). The jury returned a verdict finding plaintiff 60% at fault and Defendant 40%. The jury awarded: past medical expenses: $419,000, future medicals: $10,500, past pain and suffering: $40,000 and future pain and suffering: $20,000. After the comparative fault reduction, the jury verdict was reduced to $195,823. The final verdict was essentially 20% of what Plaintiff requested from the jury. Read More
On May 1, 2017, Tampa Partner, Joseph Kopacz, obtained a Defense Verdict in the matter of Kimberly Ellison v. Dag 3, LLC in Pinellas County, Florida in front of Judge Pamela Campbell. Plaintiff alleged Dag 3 was negligent in the maintenance of the parking lot at the shopping center by allowing a piece of exposed rebar to protrude from the top of a wheel stop causing her to fall. The plaintiff’s construction expert testified that the exposed rebar violated the ASTM standards and general maintenance guidelines. The defendant's construction expert testified that the subject parking lot complied with all building codes and industry standards. Testimony from the plaintiff's friend confirmed in fact he backed his pick-up truck (with a trailer hitch) into the parking space over the wheel stop in which plaintiff claimed to trip over. Defense argued plaintiff tripped over the trailer hitch attached to rear of the pick-up truck and not the exposed rebar on the wheel stop. The plaintiff broke both of her wrists from the fall and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. Plaintiff was claiming medical expenses near $100,000 for the two surgeries performed to her left and right wrist. The case was tried on liability only. The jury deliberated for 5 minutes before rendering a defense verdict. Read More
Tampa Managing Partner Anthony Petrillo and Associate Joseph Kopacz obtained a favorable jury verdict in a slip and fall matter styled Terry and Barbara Tallent v. Pilot Travel Centers on October 16, 2014. Plaintiffs demanded $3.5 million at mediation and eventually filed Proposals for Settlement in the amount of $2.0 million 45 days prior to the start of the trial. The jury found Plaintiff 35% comparative negligence and returned a net verdict of $44,525. Read More
Tampa Associate Joseph Kopacz and Partner Anthony Petrillo obtained a Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint with prejudice and entry of judgment against Plaintiff in a dog attack case styled Ralph Hayes v. Oldsmar Flea Market, on July 25, 2014. Defendant operated a flea market in Oldsmar, Florida. Plaintiff, Ralph Hayes, while walking through the parking lot of the flea market alleged to have been attacked by a large pit-bull. Read More
stipulations, a zero judgment was entered. Read More
the owners and managers of the apartment complex where he lived, were negligent. Plaintiff tripped and fell in and around the dumpster area
where he had just finished discarding his recyclables. The case was bifurcated and tried on liability only. Plaintiff sought in excess of $100,000 in
damages seeking compensation for his knee surgery and other injuries. Read More
double death Products Liability case when the judge found in her order that “the dangers associated with carbon monoxide poisoning are well known and Tennaco had no duty to re-warn.” The case set in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida involved two teenagers who were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, after spending the night in their mini-van. Read More
Anthony J. Petrillo, Tampa Managing Partner and Jason D. Montes, Associate prepared and argued a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on August 20, 2007 in a multi-million dollar wrongful death case. The case involved a heavy impact front collision when Defendant crossed the centerline resulting in the death of a 24 year old mother of an infant. In the pretrial phase, Defense obtained summary judgment on the husband survivor's claim due to a defect in the hospital bed marriage ceremony. At trial, Plaintiff sought $15M in non-economics and $1.5M in economics. Defense contended Plaintiff failed to wear her seatbelt and proved her severed suprahepatic vena cava was directly caused by trauma to her liver due to her failure to buckle up. The jury found Plaintiff 43% comparative fault and reduced to a net verdict of $1.4M. Read more
Daniel Santaniello, Anthony Petrillo and Paul Jones, the defense team for Florida Pool Products, received a major win on November 2, 2006 for a one month product liability trial in Pinellas County. Wal-Mart and Florida Pool Products, Inc. were co-defendants in the trial of a 3 year old boy who was rectally impaled resulting in a colostomy on a dive stick that had been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Plaintiff asked the jury for $15 million in compensatory damages and further sought punitive damages in the amount of $32-40 million. The Jury found the family and others 85% at fault, resulting in a net verdict of $10,200 against our client and punitive damages of $120,000, well below a 7 figure Offer of Judgment. Read More
On February 10, 1999, at 7:00 p.m., Plaintiff was shocked by a four-hundred and eighty volt electrical wire servicing the light poles on the senior field of Defendant Azalea Little League in St. Petersburg. Plaintiff claimed that he had no memory of the manner in which he came into contact with the wire. Plaintiff alleged that Azalea Little League was negligent for allowing a dangerous condition to exist on the premises and that the electrician, Defendant Collins, was also negligent for failing to repair the wire sooner and failing to inspect the field before energizing the wire. Defendants contended and proved at trial that they had no prior knowledge of any dangerous condition and Plaintiff himself knew of the condition and voluntarily exposed himself to the danger by grabbing the wire with his thumb and forefinger. Plaintiff's damages were also disputed. Defendants filed a Proposal for Settlement to Plaintiff Martin for $ 9,000 and to Plaintiff Lynn for $ 1,000. Plaintiffs would not consider any offer below $ 100,000. With pain and suffering, Plaintiffs demanded approximately $ 400,000. Read More