McGrath receives compulsory non-suit for commercial property owner

Sweeney & Sheehan Partner Robyn Farrell McGrath recently represented a commercial property owner and received a compulsory non-suit at the end of the plaintiff’s case in a premises liability action tried in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. The 51-year-old plaintiff had suffered bilateral lower extremity fractures after falling from a 16’ extension ladder and was claiming permanent disability because of his injuries. Plaintiff sued both a tenant and the property owner, arguing that the property owner reserved control over portions of the leased space where the accident occurred and over the ladder in question. After three days of trial, the Court agreed that the property owner owed no duty to the plaintiff under the circumstances presented in the case and granted a non-suit to the property owner. The trial proceeded against the co-defendant tenant to a plaintiff’s verdict.