The plaintiff's attorney, Philadelphia injury attorney Leonard Hill of Hill & Associates, P.C.,
intends to use the case to challenge a $250,000 cap on damages against state
agencies.
PHILADELPHIA, May 12, 2024
/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Summary
- A jury delivered a $2.3 million
premises liability verdict against the Philadelphia Housing
Authority.
- Plaintiff Arthur Logan claimed
he sustained a knee injury falling down poorly lit steps on a
property owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
- The plaintiff's attorney, Philadelphia injury attorney Leonard Hill of Hill & Associates, P.C.,
intends to use the case to challenge a $250,000 cap on damages against state
agencies.
- The cap has been the subject of ongoing constitutional
challenges, including in a case poised to go before the state
Supreme Court.
"Because of the existing cap, a lot of
lawyers don't want to get verdicts, so they will settle a case that
should be in the multi-millions for pennies on the dollar,"
plaintiff's lawyer Leonard Hill, of
Hill & Associates, said.
Plaintiff's lawyer Leonard Hill
intends to use the case to challenge Pennsylvania's cap on damages against state
agencies.
The jury's seven-figure award was against the Philadelphia
Housing Authority, so it is subject to a $250,000 limit on what a single plaintiff can
collect against the state. But Leonard
Hill of Hill & Associates said the cap is overdue for an
adjustment.
"Because of the cap, a lot of lawyers don't want to get
verdicts, so they will settle a case that should be in the
multi-millions for pennies on the dollar," Hill said.
Hill said he intends to take the case, captioned Logan v.
Philadelphia Housing Authority, to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
He is currently preparing a post-trial motion arguing that the cap
violates plaintiffs' due process rights. This challenge won't be
the first to question the constitutionality of the damages cap.
Another case, Frielich v. SEPTA, is awaiting a ruling on a
petition for appeal before the Supreme Court on the same central
issue, after lower courts ruled that they were constrained by
precedent to reject the plaintiffs' challenge. Despite ruling
against the plaintiffs, the lower courts suggested in their
respective opinions that the cap may be unfair.
And Frielich was crafted as a response to a 2014 high court
decision that upheld a $500,000 cap
on damages against municipal agencies but was accompanied by a
concurring opinion that left the door open for further
challenges.
According to Leonard Hill, the legal questions involved in
Logan mirror those found in the
other cap challenges.
"It's the same constitutional argument," he said, "but what's
important is not so much the sameness, it's the
repetitiveness."
Hill said the number of constitutional challenges to the cap
reflects how often juries find state agencies are liable for
damages above and beyond what the limit allows. "The citizens of
Pennsylvania are upset that these
caps are too low" he said.
The jury's Feb. 27 verdict in
Logan valued plaintiff
Arthur Logan's damages at
$2.3 million, though the award was
reduced to $1.9 million based on a
finding that the plaintiff was 35% negligent. The trial was held
before Judge Susan Schulman of the
Philadelphia Court of Common
Pleas.
Logan claimed he sustained a knee injury falling down poorly lit
steps on a property owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority
(PHA).
PHA was represented by David
Bateman of Bateman Caliendo.
PHA argued that the stairs in question were in good condition and
that Logan did not take any precautions to navigate them in the
dark. Bateman declined to comment, and the PHA did not respond to a
request for comment.
Hill noted that the cap has not been adjusted for inflation or
cost of living since it was enacted in 1978, and argued that his
goal is not to do away with the limit, but to adjust it.
"The cap needs to be raised substantially to reflect the 40-year
gap between its inception and the present," he said. "It's not that
we think that there should not be a cap, we just think that there
should be a fair cap."
Hill & Associates has been an injury law firm in
Philadelphia since 1999, and
represents clients in many cases involving personal injury. If you
have been injured through no fault of your own, contact the firm at
(215) 567-7600 for a free consultation.
Media Contact
Ray Mitchell, Gravimetric, LLC, 1
(864) 376-2267, ray@gravimetric.io, https://gravimetric.io/
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prweb.com/releases/2-3m-premises-liability-verdict-against-philadelphia-housing-authority-sets-up-challenge-to-state-damages-cap-302142647.html
SOURCE Hill & Associates, P.C.