Jury Verdict against the Port of Seattle (Sea-Tac airport) for our client. Our client was a ground crew member who was severely injured at the airport while operating a tug. Tragically, this life-changing collision left him triplegic. The brakes and steering on his tug failed, causing him to crash into another piece of broken equipment on the tarmac. The resulting collision crushed his spine. SeaTac airport argued that it did not have a duty to ensure that the equipment used at the airport was safe. Unfortunately, the first court to listen to the issue agreed with SeaTac, and dismissed our client’s case. We appealed for our client, and his case wound its way up to the Washington State Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court decided that our client should have been given his right to a jury trial, and poignantly asked: “if the Port of Seattle does not keep the airport safe for workers, who will?” The appellate process took seven long years.
Shamelessly, the Port of Seattle continued to fight against our client even after the Supreme Court’s decision, and the case went back to Superior Court for a jury trial. After a five-week trial, a 12-person jury delivered a resounding $40,000,000.00 verdict against the Port of Seattle in favor of our client.
