Overview
(September 3, 2020, Washington, DC) — On August 17, Steptoe successfully obtained a reversal of a roughly $3 million jury verdict for a construction company sued for allegedly failing to install traffic control devices at a construction site. The plaintiff, a worker at the site, sued Hadco Construction when a driver fell asleep at the wheel, drifted into a work area alongside the highway, and crashed into a ladder on which the worker had been standing, causing substantial injuries. On appeal, Steptoe successfully challenged the admission of expert causation testimony not disclosed prior to trial. The intermediate appellate court ruling was appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, where the plaintiff argued that Hadco's counsel had failed to preserve his objection at trial and had to failed to include the evidence necessary to determine the objection on appeal.
Steptoe partner Harry Lee, with briefing assistance from Steptoe partner Shannen Coffin and associate Mark Savignac, successfully defended the court of appeals’ decision to throw out the jury's multimillion-dollar verdict and remand the case for a new trial. The Utah Supreme Court ruled that Hadco's alleged failure to preserve his objection and/or failure to include in the trial record evidence necessary to resolve the objection on appeal were irrelevant because the plaintiff had waived these arguments by not first presenting them to the trial court before the record on appeal was transmitted by the clerk.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
