The trial team of Scott Widerman and Eric Hostetler obtained a Plaintiff’s jury verdict in Indian River County over a two-day period in late December 2022. The lawsuit began in 2018 when an auger pilling machine overturned on a property in The Fingers in Vero, Florida after part of the machine sunk into an unabandoned septic tank and overturned, causing severe damage to the auger pilling machine. After litigating a portion of the case in Brevard County, the case was later transferred to Indian River County and consolidated into another case.
“It is unusual for a pure breach of contract case to reach a jury, as the interpretation of the contract is usually reserved for the Judge”, stated Eric Hostetler. However, the Defendant in this case requested a jury trial. “We simply argued the language of the contract and how it applied to the facts, while the defense tried to apportion blame, which is more typically argued in a negligence action”, stated Scott Widerman. The jury was out just under two hours and came back with a full verdict in favor of the Plaintiff.
Post-verdict, the Plaintiff was able to reach a settlement with the Defendant for $200,000.00, which included the damages sought by the Plaintiff and their reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred litigating the case for over two years.
