A man that has been left paralyzed after a giant palm tree fell on him just outside of his home in Mission Hills, has been found not at fault for his injury by the San Diego Superior Court jury, and the responsibility has been placed on the city, as reported by the North County Times.
M.B. was injured on January 21, 2010 following a four-day winter storm. The tree that crashed down on his legs was maintained by the city and located in the city's right of way.
The jury deliberated for nearly three days before deciding that the city was responsible and will be paying damages to both M.B. and his wife E.B.
According to the lawsuit, it was the city's lack of yearly tree inspections and maintenance – due to cutbacks that began with budget problems in 2007 – that made the trees unsafe.
A spokesman for the City Attorney's Office declined to comment on the jury's finding as the trial is ongoing.
One of the couple's lawyers, Browne Greene, commented that he was pleased for his clients, and for other residents, as the lawsuit would require that the city begin maintaining its trees again.
M.B.'s injuries currently keep him wheelchair bound – and may further result in double amputations. According to his attorneys M.B. has racked up millions of dollars in medical bills.
However, lawyers for the city argued that a tree falling down is "an act of God." Predicting which tree might fall, or when or where it would occur, could not be foreseen.
Another one of M.B.'s lawyers, Dan Balaban, successfully argued that the city should have known about the problems with the trees as the same day his client was injured another tree had fallen down. And two weeks prior to that, another had fallen that was also in the vicinity of M.B.'s home.
Balaban concluded that the city knew of the problems and failed to warn its citizens of the hazards.
The first tree fell on M.B.'s car before 6:30 a.m. The second tree, falling at approximately 8:30 a.m., fell on M.B. just as he was trying to unload items from his car.
The tree that landed on M.B. weighed about 2,600 pounds and was about 60 feet tall.
The jury unanimously decided that the tree that injured M.B. was in a "dangerous condition" and that it created a foreseeable risk of injury. The jury's next decision, a yes in a vote of 10-2, was that the city had enough notice of the tree's condition that it could have fixed it.
The final decision, as to whether the city's failure to act was a factor in M.B.'s injury, was a unanimous yes vote from the jury.
The next portion of the trial, set to conclude within a week, will determine the amount of damages the couple will receive.
Lighting can strike twice, or, two trees can fall in almost the same spot. However, while lightning could be attributed to an act of God, in this case a fallen tree was not. Click here for our directory to contact a personal injury lawyer to argue your case.