Summary Judgment For Defendant In $920,000 Subrogation Case

Attorney Bill Lindsay won summary judgment in this property damage subrogation case wherein the plaintiffs sought to recover over $920,000.00 from our client, J.W. McGuire. The plaintiffs alleged that J.W. McGuire engaged in unsafe work practices while performing concrete renovation on the exterior of the Horizon House Condominium Building. They alleged that J.W. McGuire’s work resulted in a fire on the terrace that eventually spread and damaged the interior of the condo building. The plaintiffs sought to recover under both a negligence and res ipsa loquitur theory. After discovery, we moved for summary judgment and argued that J.W. McGuire did not owe a duty to plaintiffs and, furthermore, that there was not one fact to show that our client was the proximate cause of the fire. The plaintiffs responded by hiring two engineering experts who rendered an opinion that J.W. McGuire’s work likely did cause the fire. After two sessions of oral argument, the court granted summary judgment in favor of our client, J.W. McGuire, finding that J. W. McGuire did not owe a duty to plaintiffs and that there was no fact to establish that J.W. McGuire proximately caused the fire.Acuity v. Local 241, no. 13 CH 4842 (December 11, 2014).