Defense Verdict for Phoenix Attorneys
William A. Nebeker and Omer David, Phoenix attorneys, and team, paralegal Janelle Nebeker and legal assistant, Jenna Colley, successfully defended and obtained a defense verdict after a four-day jury trial in a case involving a house fire at a home under construction. The Owner was constructing a 6,500 sq. ft, 8-bedroom short term vacation rental home in Sedona, Arizona, when the home completely burned to the ground. Our Client was the plumbing subcontractor working on the construction of the home and was the last trade to leave the site the day of the fire. The Owner blamed our Client for starting the fire by allegedly discarding cigarettes in cardboard boxes that were stacked inside the home. Our Client denied responsibility for the fire and claimed that the cigarettes its employees discarded were not burning. Our theory was that the cause of the fire was more likely arson, and that even if our client threw burning cigarettes away, a smoldering cigarette could not have caused this fire. The Owner sought damages for the costs to rebuild the home, along with years’ worth of rent for the delays the Owner alleges were caused by the fire.
This was a hard-fought litigation lasting five years. The parties attended three separate mediations with two different mediators but were not able to resolve their dispute short of trial. At trial, the Owner dropped his claim for costs to rebuild the home but was still seeking rental income in the amount of approximately $450,000. After a four-day trial, the jury returned a defense verdict after less than two hours of deliberations. The jury agreed with our theory that the plumbers did not leave lit cigarettes in the trash and that our Client did not cause the fire.