Arroyo Maintenance Company, a homeowners' association, had trees in the common areas of its housing complex. Some children built a tree house in one of the trees, unbeknownst to Arroyo. Arroyo's landscaping company, Pacific Environmental, began removing the tree house but, unfortunately, a piece of lumber fell from the tree during the removal and tragically struck an employee standing underneath the tree rendering him a quadriplegic.
The injured employee, and Pacific Environmental's Workers Compensation insurance company, sued Callahan & Blaine's client alleging negligence and premises liability claims. Callahan & Blaine's client faced millions of dollars of possible damages.
Michael J. Sachs took the lead as Callahan & Blaine's trial counsel. Through a series of deft procedures, Mr. Sachs was completely successful in having the Court dismiss all of the injured employee's and the Workers Compensation carrier's claims, without the necessity of a trial. The defeated plaintiffs appealed Mr. Sachs's victory.
Callahan & Blaine then shifted the case to a Certified Appellate Specialist within its Appellate Department to defend the case on appeal. Once again, Callahan & Blaine was successful. A unanimous Appellate Court agreed that the Trial Court had properly thrown out both the injured employee's and insurance company's claims against Arroyo.
