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The cold Denver air surrounded Mike when he shuffled out of his truck and onto the parking garage entrance. He had been hired to service the high rise building’s sprinkler system. When he had done this job in the past, employees met him outside to open the garage door via code access.
On February 2, 2022, with the snow, ice, and cold winter winds, the high rise building’s employees bypassed their normal routine and verbally gave Mike the code so he could enter the garage without them. This required our client to step foot outside of his vehicle. As Mike walked back from the keypad after entering the code, he tripped on an icy hidden curb before gravity pulled him to the ground.
He heard a pop. He felt agonizing pain in his right ankle. He couldn’t move.
When first responders arrived at the scene, they administered fentanyl to treat Mike’s pain before attempting to transport or treat him. It was immediately clear he was in a great deal of pain.
In the emergency room, doctors diagnosed Mike with a trimalleolar fracture of the right ankle. After two attempts to set Mike’s ankle, a bone fragment was left inside. He went into surgery two weeks after the fall to remove bone fragments and insert screws and plates into his ankle.
In the following year, Mike sought treatment to alleviate his constant pain and discomfort. During that time, he accrued financial and emotional losses that would reroute the course of his life. His doctor told him that, as a result of the defendant’s negligence, Mike will live the rest of his life with a 23% impairment to his lower body and about a 9% whole person impairment.
In an instant, Mike suffered a life-altering injury due to the neglect of the defendants. Unfortunately for Mike and his family, there is not a single day—and there never will be—where he is not dealing with some lingering aspect of his injuries. These forever injuries will continue to impair Mike for the rest of his life. All because the defendants did not feel like walking outside to open the gate.
The physical pain and loss of mobility are by no means the only damages done from this incident, nor is Mike the only person at a loss. His injury held him back from things he used to love—hiking and swimming with his friends, lifting his children off the ground, helping his wife clean up around the house, going to work. Every aspect of his life was interrupted and put on hold while the world marched forward.
The most stressful part of it all is that Mike’s injury was avoidable. The defendant could have opened the garage door for him, cleared the ice and snow, put down ice melt, or put up warning signs. But not even the most basic precautions were taken.
Despite the clear negligence of the high rise building and the clear evidence of Mike’s life-changing injuries, the high rise building refused to fairly compensate him for his harms and losses, forcing Mike to hire an attorney. At first, Mike hired a different firm—one with a nationally-recognized reputation for the excellent work they do—but that firm ultimately dropped him as a client, after being unable to get the matter resolved. Mike was prepared to drop his claim, but made one last call to Dormer Harpring. And, we quickly got to work to make sure Mike was fairly compensated for all that was taken from him.
We are proud to announce that Dormer Harpring personal injury attorney Tim Garvey helped Mike settle his claims against the high rise building for $750,000—without even having to file a lawsuit. Although Mike’s injuries will impact him for the rest of his life, this settlement provides a measure of security and relief during a time when the defendants’ negligence left him struggling and after his former attorneys left him hanging.