Jimmy Burke (Partner-White Plains, NY) and Gene Stith (Of Counsel-Long Island, NY) obtained a defense verdict after a six-day liability jury trial in Orange Supreme Court. The plaintiff alleged she was seriously injured in a parking lot drain basin that had become a sink hole, which at the time was covered by snow, and she did not see it. The plaintiff had obtained partial summary judgment on liability prior to trial against the property owner and its tenant on the issue of notice. The owner and tenant were responsible per the lease for snow removal and repair and maintenance of the parking lot. Our client, the plaintiff’s employer, was brought into the case by the property’s tenant, as it had a use agreement for a warehouse on the site, and contracted with the tenant to perform certain recycling, packaging, and dunnage work. The tenant vigorously fought to shift the case’s entire liability to our client on the theories of special use of the property, contractual and common law indemnity, and negligence. Due to multiple surgeries including lumbar laminectomies, two implants and removal of spinal cord stimulators, multiple nerve blocks, and a diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome, the plaintiff’s demand was $15 million. Jimmy and Gene similarly fought back hard and after less than 1.5 hours of deliberations, the jury returned a defense verdict as to our client and found the owner and tenant 100 percent responsible. They specifically found our client did not breach its indemnity agreement because they found that the plaintiff was not performing services under the contract when she was injured, and that our client was not negligent and did not make a special use of the property. They also found no comparative fault against the plaintiff. White Plains, NY, partner Scott Stopnik’ s guidance was a big factor in this win.