San Diego civil rights & criminal defense lawyers
$1.25 million verdict follows $4.03 million in additional settlements by MTS and its tenants after a previous jury found in favor of the 2017 disaster victims
SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES, February 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — A San Diego jury returned a $1,250,000 verdict Wednesday against MTS and two of its tenants for a platform-collapse disaster inside an MTS warehouse that injured dozens of people, mostly children, in 2017. Attorneys from McKenzie Scott PC represented 12 plaintiffs in the matter, 9 of whom participated in the trial that ended earlier this week. The most recent verdict held MTS partially to blame for the collapse, apportioning liability to the other two tenants as well.
The verdict (case No. 37-2018-00016374-CU-PO-CTL) followed an earlier trial in 2022, where a different jury returned a verdict against two of MTS’s tenants in the warehouse, San Diego Sports Entertainment and Vault PK, but the trial judge dismissed MTS from the case mid-trial. A Court of Appeal later reversed that decision, holding that notwithstanding language in its lease, a public landlord does have the duty to protect the community from known dangerous conditions on public land. The appeals court ordered a retrial against MTS accordingly. After the initial verdict and the appellate decision, SDSE and Vault PK settled claims with all plaintiffs, and MTS settled with three additional plaintiffs, for a collective total of $4.03 million in additional payouts.
San Diego attorney Tim Scott, who represented the plaintiffs along with co-counsel Nicolas O. Jimenez and paralegal Nicole Delaney, noted that “this case was always about keeping the community safe from dangerous conditions on publicly owned property.” Scott added, “MTS and other public landlords cannot ignore code violations on their property that endanger the public. We hope that this verdict, along with the previous settlements on behalf of our clients, help emphasize that message.”
“Ultimately, all the defendants involved were found liable for allowing the unpermitted platform to be used by the public,” said co-counsel Nicolas O. Jimenez.
“We thank our clients for their commitment to ensuring that MTS and the other parties responsible received a measure of accountability for their negligent actions in this case.”
Jason Kitchen
McKenzie Scott PC
+1 517-974-4724
jkitchen@mckenziescott.com
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