Tampa Injury Lawyer : A jury surprise? Part One

By Nicholas J. Dorsten, Esq.

According to an article in the St. Pete Times, recent wrongful death case that was tried in front of a jury had a surprising twist. NEW PORT RICHEY — A civil jury decided Monday that an apartment complex where a young woman was murdered in 2004 is not liable for her death.

The jury returned something of a compromise verdict. It found that the apartment complex in New Port Richey was negligent, but also that the wrongful death victim was more than 50 percent responsible because she was intoxicated at the time of the murder.

That means the deceased's mother, who was represented by a Tampa Personal Injury attorney, will receive no monetary award.

The Tampa Personal Injury Lawyer said immediately after the verdict that he will appeal.

"There's absolutely no evidence to support that verdict," he said. "She was drinking, but she didn't do anything negligent."

The deceased, 27, moved to the New Port Richey apartment complex in 2002. Adam Calcote, who police later charged with her murder, stayed next door with his girlfriend, living under an assumed name while wanted in Massachusetts on an arson warrant.

One evening when his girlfriend was out of town, Calcote struck up a conversation on the balcony with the victim, a special-education teacher who lived alone. They talked and drank beer and wine for several hours. When they went inside, authorities said, he raped her and then smothered her with a pillow.

The victim, and later the subject of the Tampa wrongful death lawsuit grew up in Hudson and attended River Ridge High School and the University of Florida. In her job at a local elementary school, she was known for her kindness with her school children, including putting stickers on children's faces during nap time.

The defendant, now 39, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2005 and is serving life in prison.

In her lawsuit, the deceased's mother argued that Carlton Arms failed to detect the defendant, who was not listed on his girlfriend's lease but lived off and on between the complex and his mother's house for more than six months.

The Tampa personal injury lawyer told the jury that such "piggybackers" are a problem at apartment complexes nationwide, and that this particular complex had no policy in place to protect its residents from such people.

"They're not worried about people being on the premises that they don't know who they are," the personal injury attorney told the six-member jury Monday. "Their concern is only that they be able to pay the rent."

He said Carlton Arms presented a safe, secure environment to potential tenants: an entrance with a guard house, fencing around the perimeter and a "bluebook" explaining security policies.

The complex, the Florida Personal Injury lawyer said, encouraged residents to "get to know your neighbors."

"How can they tell people to get to know their neighbors when they don't get to know the unauthorized occupants?" the wrongful death lawyer argued.

The insurance defense lawyer, who represented the apartment company, told jurors that Carlton Arms never had any violent crime committed at the complex, and Calcote's actions that night were not foreseeable.

"You can dissect a tragedy after it happens … but, folks, there are unforeseeable tragedies in the world. Just because a tragedy happens doesn't mean someone was negligent," he told the jury.

A security expert hired by the personal injury attorney suggested the company should train its maintenance workers to "have their antenna up" when they go inside apartments to fix toilets or replace carpet so that they notice people hanging around who shouldn't be there.

"Wouldn't it be reasonable?" he argued.

The defense attorney countered that for maintenance workers to do such would amount to spying on tenants. "You can't go in and violate the civil rights of your tenants to fix a problem that doesn't exist," he said.

In similar cases,a personal injury attorney can win multimillion-dollar awards, including a case several years ago where a college student who was kidnapped and shot in the head by three men who sneaked through the gate of her Tampa apartment complex behind a resident.

Car accident? Have you or someone you loved been hurt and in need of a personal injury lawyer? Then contact Blake & Dorsten, P.A. today for a free consult!



For more information, or to speak directly with an experienced Personal Injury lawyer, please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email your questions to: info@blakedorstenlaw.com