Well, I don't know if you believe in Santa Claus but one of my clients, Tom Luebke of Prestininzi and Luebke, has a new reason to celebrate the Holiday season. Tom recently tried a case for personal injuries. His client, Douglas Harp, was injured when his parked pick-up truck was struck head-on by a dump truck driven by George Armitage, Jr. at a construction site. At the time, Armitage was on his lunch break and was driving in an unauthorized area with his son.

Harp sued Armitage, his employer, Leading Edge, and Mesa Contracting, the grading contractor. Tom pursued several theories, including one based on negligent training, against Leading Edge Trucking, Inc. The jury found Armitage was not acting within the scope of his employment. The jury awarded Harp over $1.8 million in damages.

The special verdict form did not distinguish between the theories of negligent hiring, training and supervision. The jury allocated 5% fault against Mesa, even though it found Mesa's negligence was not a substantial factor in causing plaintiff's injuries. In post-trial proceedings, the trial court reallocated the 5% fault to Leading Edge and Armitage.

Leading Edge appealed. The main thrust of its appeal was the lack of substantial evidence, but it also argued the jury's findings were inconsistent and the trial court could not resolve the inconsistency in post-trial proceedings. Tom and I worked on the appeal and he argued the case before the Court of Appeal.

On December 18, 2009, just seven days before Christmas, the Court of Appeal filed its opinion, affirming the judgment. It concluded there was sufficient evidence of negligent training, and that Leading Edge waived its challenge to the trial court's post-verdict reallocation. The court held that it was incumbent upon Leading Edge to object to the post-trial proceedings and its failure to do so was a waiver of the point.

Congratulations, Tom!