CRUG Obtains Jury Trial Defense Verdict for Tree Service Company in Negligence Action Claim

In Cerne, et al. v. VanCuren Services, Inc., et al., Lake C.P. No. 21CVV000731 (March 9, 2022), after a 3-day jury trial Patrick M. Roche received a defense verdict for a tree service company and its employee that had a negligence action brought against them by a landscaper who sustained injuries when his hand was crushed in the gate of a company dump truck.

Our client delivered a truckload of mulch to the plaintiff.  The plaintiff’s hand was crushed while shoveling mulch out of the back of the dump truck.  Plaintiff alleged that our client negligently operated the truck bed which caused the gate to crush plaintiff’s hand.

Pat successfully argued the affirmative defenses of contributory negligence and assumption of the risk.  The jury determined that, while our client may have been negligent, his negligence was not the direct and proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries.