Henry G. Hester, the litigation attorney for Phillips and Lyon, has been successful in many high profile Arizona slip and fall cases. Mr. Hester represented Mr. Underwood against the City of Phoenix. The carpet was split in a very high traffic area in the Sky Harbor International Airport gating area. The City of Phoenix chose to not fix the carpet and instead put duct tape over the split periodically until they decided who was responsible for paying for the repair. Thousands of airport passengers walked across the taped carpet every day and within a few days the duct tape would come apart and the loose carpet would be exposed again posing a trip hazard for patrons.
Mr. Underwood and his daughter were walking to their gate and Mr. Underwood caught his toe on the loose carpet and fell. He suffered from ruptured ligaments in his knee. The City of Phoenix denied responsibility so Mr. Hester had no choice but to take the case to trial and represent Mr. Underwood in front of a Maricopa County judge and jury.
The jury decided the City was negligent to put duct tape across the hazardous area when they knew this was a highly traveled area and a reasonable repair was necessary immediately. The jury rendered one of the largest verdicts seen in recent years in a trip and fall case and found the damages suffered by Mr. Underwood were worth $400,000.00.
