$2.49 Million Verdict for Fargo Tenant Burned When a Roll-Down Fire Door Blocked Her Exit
After trial: The jury's total of $2.935 million was reduced to the landlord's 85 percent share. The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed liability in 2003 but eliminated interest on future damages, and in 2004 it upheld the amended judgment.
Won by Maring Williams Law Office.
A jury found the owner of a downtown Fargo apartment building 85 percent at fault after a tenant was burned and overcome by smoke on March 14, 1997, when a metal roll-down fire door dropped across her hallway. Total damages were $2.935 million, and the landlord's share came to about $2.49 million. The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld the liability rulings in 2003 and removed interest on future damages.
What happened
At about 7:50 on the morning of March 14, 1997, an unattended candle started a fire in a downtown Fargo apartment building owned by Dolund Partnership, L.L.P. Liliam Gonzalez lived down the hall with her daughter. When she tried to leave, a metal fire door had dropped from the ceiling and closed off the corridor. It worked like a roll-top desk and was triggered by a fusible link that releases at 180 degrees.
Gonzalez testified that she had never seen the door and that nobody at the building had told her it existed or how to operate it. She tried to open it and could not. Smoke overcame her, and she collapsed roughly ten feet from the door.
The injuries were serious. She suffered burns over about 15 percent of her body, including second-degree burns to her airway. She was taken by air ambulance to a regional burn center, and she ultimately had skin grafts on her arms, hands and fingers, followed by numerous surgeries to improve scarring on her shoulders.
Gonzalez settled with Jessica Tounjian, the neighbor whose candle started the fire, and took her case against the landlord to a jury. Daniel J. Dunn and Anthony J. Weiler of Maring Williams Law Office represented her. The jury put 85 percent of the fault on Dolund and 15 percent on Tounjian. It found $285,000 in past economic damages, $1.5 million in past noneconomic damages, $650,000 in future economic damages and $500,000 in future noneconomic damages, for a total of $2.935 million. Dolund's 85 percent share is about $2.49 million. The trial court then entered judgment for about $2.98 million, which included costs, disbursements and interest.
Dolund appealed on several grounds, among them the standard the trial court used for the landlord's duty. The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled on July 18, 2003, that a landlord who keeps control of common areas must act reasonably to discover dangerous conditions and keep them safe, and it held that the jury had been instructed correctly. It also upheld the admission of an emergency room physician's expert testimony about loss of consciousness. The one change was to interest: the court allowed interest on past damages but held that none could be added to damages not yet incurred, and it sent the case back for a corrected judgment.
Dolund appealed again after the amended judgment was entered, asking to have it vacated. In August 2004 the Supreme Court affirmed the denial of that motion.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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