CASE NAME: Mercurio v. PSAV, Inc. & Encore Event Technologies, Inc.
Case No. 37-2021-00034738-CU-PO-CTL, Judge Marcella O. McLaughlin
My client (FM) was a 51-year-old Foreman working for a Audio/Video (vendor) company that assisted professional events for presentations in the San Diego area. In September 2019, he trippled and fell over a wire cord that was negligently left in an unsafe state by one of the contracted professional companies setting up the main presentation space. The exposed wired cord was left draping from the ceiling in a dangerous position in a walkway used by many other workers and tradesmen. It was difficult to see as it was the same color and blended in with the background and carpeting.
A general safety rule on construction sites is that you leave no mechanism of any kind in an unsafe manner, and if you do, you must guard it, warn against it or remedy it. Here, none of the aforementioned construction site saftey protocols were followed, and the case became a defense game of "pointing the finger" at other companies attached to the construction site.
FM severely injured muliptle body parts and followed up with medical care. In the end, workers’ compensation paid out for all medical care. This was also the lien amount that they pursued in the litigation to get paid back in the even of any settlement – they also hired a lawyer to make sure they would get this amount paid back to them.
I teamed up with fellow trial lawyers, Ben Bunn, and Robert Francavilla. Both Ben and Robert have a tremendous amount of experience with construction site injuries and workers’ compensation. Both of these trial lawyers were an invaluable member of the trial team. Many times, with injury cases that leave the injured party with severe injuries, and the facts of the injury producing event leave room for apportionment (blaming part of the injury producing event on the injured person), it is wise to team up and build a trial team, so you can take it to jury trial, if needed.
The case was defended by multiple defense lawyers, and we had to attend two different mediations with two separate retired judges in order to get the injury case settled fairly. We prepared this case for trial. We met with independent witnesses, and obtained their statements in video format for the mediation (and trial if we ended up there).
If you, or someone you know, is in need of good injury trial lawyer, feel free to contact me, Mark Blane, at (619) 813-7955, or download one of my free Injury Guide Ebooks directly from my website today.
