West Palm Beach Partners John Chiocca and Kristina Correa and West Palm Beach Associate Nicholas Cardamone recently obtained a great result in Palm Beach County after a three-day jury trial on a breach of contract/indemnity claim.
The client, a stucco contractor, entered into a subcontract agreement with a general contractor for a $2M+ project. Following completion of construction, the owner brought defect claims against the GC who in turn sued fourteen subcontractors, including the client. After five years of litigation, all parties except the client settled their respective defect claims. The GC then assigned its claims against the client to the owner to pursue indemnity claims against the client. The Friday before the Monday trial, the court ruled that the defense could not argue a lack of liability for the alleged defects, thereby precluding testimony from the defense’s expert witnesses.
At trial, Plaintiff asked the jury to award nearly $800,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs that were incurred by the GC in defending the defect claims. After several hours of deliberation, the jury awarded just $55,000 in damages to Plaintiffs, or roughly 8% of what was claimed.
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