Keating, O’Gara attorney Joel Nelson‘s latest case is featured in today’s Lincoln Journal Star:
Couple sues home seller, but loses at trial
Lincoln Journal Star
December 13, 2011
By Lori Pilger
A couple who sued another couple after buying their Lincoln home, alleging they had misrepresented the condition of the home on the disclosure statement, got their day in court.But at the end of a 2 1/2 day trial, a Lancaster County jury found against the buyers, Terry and Karen Williams, and for the sellers, Don and Mary Kuhn.
The Williamses sued the Kuhns in May 2010 over the 2009 sale of the home at 6701 Almira Lane. At a trial that started last week, they sought $67,351 in damages for the cost of unanticipated repairs.
Jarrod Crouse, the Williamses’ attorney, said that after they moved in, they discovered issues that included live wires in a crawl space, problems with the foundation and structural problems.
He argued that hiring a home inspector before signing the purchase agreement would have made no difference because the defects were hidden, in some cases behind drywall or in ceilings.
But the Kuhns’ attorney, Joel Nelson, said the Kuhns didn’t lie or misrepresent their home, built in the 1960s, and even acknowledged structural problems and a basement leak on the disclosure statement. He said they weren’t trying to hide anything.
Nelson said the Williamses wanted a Cadillac house but had bought a Chevy, and it was wrong to stick the bill for an upgrade to the Kuhns.
After the jury came back with its verdict Monday afternoon, the case was dismissed.
Posted in Keating O'Gara Law Firm Tuesday, 13 December 2011 10:13 No Comments
Keating, O’Gara’s Joel Bacon won an important appeal on Friday in the case of Howsden v. Roper and Sons.
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
Court says woman can sue over elevator shaft fall
By Lori Pilger
The Nebraska Supreme Court says a woman seriously injured after falling down an elevator shaft can sue the owner of the building where it happened.
Darlene Howsden was working at Metcalf Funeral Home at 245 N. 27th St. in Lincoln on Aug. 28, 2009, when she fell 16 feet down an empty elevator shaft to the basement as she was on her way to leaving the mortuary.
Employees rarely used the elevator to travel to other floors of the building, but rather as a passageway between hallways because a floor had been built atop the elevator car, according to the suit.
On the day of the accident, she opened the door to the hallway and took a step — not realizing that the makeshift floor was gone.Howsden, then an employee of Roper & Sons, was left with significant injuries and got workers’ compensation benefits through the mortuary.
She also sued Roper’s Real Estate Co., which was owned and operated by the same shareholders, alleging the company’s negligence led to her injuries. The Metcalf building is owned by Roper’s.
Roper’s Real Estate argued that, because it essentially was the same company, workers’ compensation was Howsden’s only option. In February, a judge sided with the company and dismissed the lawsuit.
But, on appeal, the state’s high court reversed the decision, finding that Howsden was not barred from bringing her own claim against the owner of the premises.In Friday’s opinion, Judge John Gerrard wrote that Roper’s Real Estate contended that it and Roper & Sons, her employer, should be considered the same entity. “We disagree,” he said.
Because the companies are legally separate entities, the court sent Howsden’s case back to Lancaster County District Court.
On Friday, Howsden’s attorney, Joel Bacon, told The Associated Press he had not had a chance to tell Howsden about the opinion.
According to court documents filed in 2010, she sued for medical expenses that by then had added up to about $75,000, plus unspecified damages for lost wages and pain and suffering for her back injury.James Snowden, an attorney for Roper’s, did not immediately return a message left seeking comment.
If you or a loved one have suffered a serious injury contact Keating, O’Gara at 888/234-0621 or online at YourNebraskaLawyers.com.
Posted in Keating O'Gara Law Firm, Nebraska Workers Compensation, Personal Injury, Spinal Cord Injury Wednesday, 2 November 2011 16:55 No Comments