FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 18, 2021

Contact: Eric W. Boyer, Esq.
Managing Partner
305.670.1101 Ext. 1023
Email: eboyer@qpwblaw.com

QPWB DEFENSE OVERCOMES HOMETOWN LAWYERS MULTI-MILLION
DOLLAR DEMAND AND “IMPOSSIBLE” FACTS TO SECURE
DEFENSE VERDICT IN PREMISES CASE

 Premises Liability

Robin N. Khanal

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ― Robin N. Khanal, Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A., Orlando office partner, achieved a defense verdict in a slip and fall case against the nation’s largest retailer in Baker County, Florida, much to the chagrin of the prominent Jacksonville trial lawyers.  The defense appeared to head to what seemed to be a certain loss: an employee’s testimony confirming a leaking roof where the Plaintiff fell, the Plaintiff was a lifetime local with multiple surgeries and massive medical bills, and a trial judge who appeared skeptical of the defense. The defense feared they would depart the small town with a seven-figure defeat and the taste of home cooking on their lips. Undaunted, they set to work against what some called “impossible” facts. 

 

Mr. Khanal’s opening statement set the stage for the defense’s case.  He laid out the inconsistencies in the Plaintiff’s versions of events, challenging the jury with rhetorical questions about the motivation behind Plaintiff’s morphing narrative.  Then, the defense took on the local surgeon who claimed the Plaintiff suffered a permanent injury in his fall at the store. Showing a shell game of letters of protection and sketchy medical records, the defense revealed the surgeon was far from the objective witness the Plaintiff claimed in opening statement. Next, the team used store security video to dismantle the Plaintiff’s wife’s version of how the incident happened. The QPWB lawyers next showed through surveillance and shifting versions of the incident in medical records that the hometown and folksy Plaintiff was not who he seemed.  Using the Plaintiff’s own demonstrative aids against them, Mr. Khanal showed through defense expert that Plaintiff’s injuries were clearly exaggerated and inconsistent with the medical evidence.

 

Finally, the defense embraced the testimony of an employee who had previously appeared to sink their case. An employee had confirmed in deposition that the roof of the store leaked constantly, and that the Plaintiff had fallen from water on the floor. The Plaintiff’s lawyers had hitched their wagon to this apparently devastating testimony, ignoring the fact that the store security footage revealed that the employee had been truthful in that she simply repeated what the Plaintiff told her caused his fall. The defense broke down the video frame by frame in closing, showing that the Plaintiff had not been truthful with his physicians nor the jury about how the incident happened. Unprepared for this turn of events, the Plaintiff lawyers instead threw million dollar per diem arguments and attempted to charm the now skeptical jury. By this point, the formerly skeptical judge also saw what had been occurring all along: Plaintiff’s case was simply a house of cards with sky high demands and no foundation in the actual facts of the event. The jury agreed, dispatching the once confident Plaintiff’s lawyers back to Jacksonville with a defense verdict and sending the Plaintiff away with nothing, despite generous settlement offers on the table.

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Robin N. Khanal, a partner in the Orlando office, concentrates his practice on complex personal injury defense; predominantly, in the areas of premises liability, medical malpractice, nursing home and assisted living defense. He earned his Juris Doctor, with honors, from the Shepard Broad Law Center at Nova Southeastern University in 2002. He has received the Pro Bono Service Bronze Pin from the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association for continuous service to his community.

ABOUT QPWB

Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. is the largest minority and woman owned law firm in the nation. Our lawyers provide representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law.

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