Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Pittsburgh partner Andrew Kimball and associate Erica Kelly obtained a unanimous defense verdict on behalf of the firm's clients, a ladder manufacturer and a ladder distributor, after a four day jury trial in York County.
The plaintiff fell from a six-foot ladder at work, and claimed that the ladder was defectively designed, causing it to collapse underneath him. The plaintiff underwent four surgeries as a result of the fall, incurring $270,000 in medical bills and lost wages.
Gordon & Rees attorneys maintained that the ladder was not defectively designed, and called a metallurgy expert as well as a ladder design expert at trial in support of their case. The plaintiff made a pre-trial demand of $1.1 million. The jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Gordon & Rees’s clients.