On October 3, 2019, Taylor Anderson attorneys Andrew Orr and Valentine Uduebor secured a complete defense verdict on behalf of clients 5855 Properties, LLC, Advantage Advisors, LLC, Louis Ficco, and Mario Ficco after a four-day trial. The plaintiff asserted claims under the Colorado Premises Liability Act, C.R.S. § 13-21-115 after allegedly falling on ice from a prior storm that was covered by new snow at a self-storage facility owned and managed by the defendants in Arvada, Colorado.
The plaintiff suffered a severe ankle fracture, and claimed that he would require future surgery, as well as a lifetime of specialized blood thinner medication, as a result of the accident. He also alleged that he was permanently unable to work as a result of his injuries. During closing, the plaintiff asked the jury to award a total of $2.2 million in damages.
Orr and Uduebor argued that the presence of ice on asphalt in Colorado in January did not constitute a dangerous condition, and that no defendant had any reason to believe the conditions on the property were unsafe on the day of the accident. The jury only needed 90 minutes before unanimously agreeing with those arguments and finding for the defense.
The case was captioned Stanislav Vasulka v. Louis Ficco et al., No. 2018CV030462, and was tried before the Honorable Lily Oeffler in Jefferson County District Court in Golden, Colorado.