Managing Partner Melicent Thompson and Associate Donn Cabral Obtain Plaintiff’s Voluntary Dismissal Of Claims Against Paving Company Client Without Motion Practice Or Monetary Payment

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Gfeller Laurie LLP Managing Partner Melicent Thompson and Associate Donn Cabral recently obtained a personal injury plaintiff’s voluntary withdrawal of her claims against a paving contractor client. Plaintiff claimed injuries from falling while jogging on a condominium complex’s private roadway allegedly due to an unstriped speed bump in the roadway.  The condominium complex owner and its property management company, both co-defendants in the case, had retained the paving company’s services solely for the limited task of sealing the paved areas in the complex, as reflected in a written contract.  Attorneys Thompson and Cabral elicited express admissions through written discovery directed to the co-defendants that they alone were responsible for the inspection and maintenance of the condominium complex.  Attorney Thompson also established through deposition questioning that plaintiff attributed her fall solely to the lack of striping on the speed bump in question and that the co-defendants alone were responsible for painting that striping on the speed bump.  By convincingly establishing these facts in written and deposition discovery and actively engaging with plaintiff’s counsel as the facts developed to show how they undermined plaintiff’s claim against the paving contractor, Thompson and Cabral obtained plaintiff’s voluntary withdrawal without having to file a motion for summary judgment and with no monetary payment due to plaintiff from the paving contractor.