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8/5/2010
Pete Ney and his co-counsel, Mark Eck, from Pittsburgh, received a finding of zero percent liability at the conclusion of a two-day arbitration of a case involving a freight elevator accident in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Plaintiff was a construction worker assisting with the build-out of a retail store in a shopping mall when he was struck in the head by a closing car gate that was a component part of a bi-parting vertical-closing power door system on the elevator. As a result of the incident, Plaintiff claimed to have sustained an unspecified closed-head injury, cervical disc injuries, chipped teeth, and other injuries. He brought suit against nearly a dozen Defendants and discovery progressed for a couple years.
Mr. Ney was requested to assist with the file as a trial date drew near. Eventually, a somewhat novel settlement agreement was reached. Plaintiff agreed to accept a reasonable, but significant amount of money to resolve his claims, and he agreed further to a delay in the payment of a vast majority of that amount until the four primary Defendants arbitrated their percentages of liability. A group of other minor Defendants settled outright with Plaintiff.
The binding arbitration was conducted by a three-member panel with two of the members being retired Pennsylvania State Court Judges. The arbitration proceeded as if it were a trial. Extensive briefs on factual and legal issues were presented beforehand; and at the hearing the panel heard opening statements, live video and read testimony, other forms of evidence, and closing arguments. In the end, the arbitrators found only one of the primary Defendants liable for the remaining funds to be paid to Plaintiff. The client of Messrs. Ney and Eck paid nothing. Since there were no appeal rights, the entire arbitration judgment was paid by the Co-Defendant and the case has concluded.
