Nov 11 2009
Local Attorneys Help Clients Get Justice
St. George, UT, November 9, 2009 — St. George attorneys, Bryce Dixon and Ron Truman, of Dixon, Truman, Fisher & Clifford. P.C., spent a week in a Salt Lake City federal courtroom trying to get justice for their clients, Jim and Colleen Spahr. Jim Spahr was injured when he walked into a hole left in the parking lot of the Rodeway Inn in Springdale, Utah. At about 6:00 a.m. on the morning of October 4, 2006, Jim Spahr left his hotel room with a small cooler to get some ice before he checked out of the hotel. Jim walked with his small cooler from his hotel room directly toward the office.
There was no moon that morning, but there was a little light coming from the windows of the buildings. Although it was still dark outside, the hotel had already turned off the exterior parking lot lights. As Jim was walking towards the office, he took a step on what he thought was black top, but there was nothing there. Jim fell six feet and landed on his left knee on some pieces of concrete left at the bottom of a culvert inlet. The force tore Jim’s patellar tendon into two pieces. The patellar tendon is the large tendon that attaches your kneecap to your shinbone. Jim incurred medical expenses of approximately $31,000 in connection with this injury to his knee. Because the hotel owner and its insurance company refused to accept any responsibility for this incident, Jim and Colleen Spahr were forced to file a lawsuit against the Rodeway Inn.
When the Rodeway Inn was constructed, the owner built a culvert to allow the natural drainage to continue its flow across the hotel’s property. However, the hotel owner left a 6-foot deep hole on one side of the culvert open. The hole was partially in the parking lot and partially on the lawn. The hotel refused to accept any responsibility for Jim’s injuries and made many excuses why it should not be held accountable, including the excuse that the large hole in its parking lot was not a danger to its guests even in the dark.
The twelve person jury unanimously disagreed with the hotel, concluding that the hotel was 99% at fault and Jim was only 1% at fault. The jury awarded Jim and Colleen a total of $450,000, of which $40,000 was for Colleen’s lost of consortium.
