Savannah Tree Care Still At Issue After $12M Verdict
By Katheryn Hayes Tucker Contact All Articles
Daily Report
August 29, 2013
Despite a $12 million judgment awarded to a woman impaled by a falling tree limb, she and the city of Savannah continue to battle, with much more at stake than the record jury verdict, lawyers from both sides said.
To plaintiff Shanta Greene, a Wendy's assistant manager who lost her right leg, hip, pelvis and the function of many of her internal organs in the accident, the bigger issue is forcing the city to care for its massive live oak trees to protect everyone in Savannah, said her lawyers, Howard Spiva and C. Clay Davis of Spiva Law Group.
They framed their case as a class war, alleging that the city put more resources into caring for its century-old trees in the rich historic district and neglecting those in poorer parts of town where Greene's accident occurred. To make the point, Spiva sent a letter the day after the Aug. 22 verdict offering to donate $500,000 to pay an arborist to work for five years trimming trees—if the city would pay up now and forgo an appeal.
The city didn't go for the deal, which included a hitch that the arborist would have to be Don Gardner, the former city director of parks and trees who testified for the plaintiffs in condemnation of current tree maintenance practices.
At stake for Savannah is the ability of governments to make decisions regarding the allocation of resources with immunity from liability, said city attorney W. Brooks Stillwell III. He took the city appointment last year, leaving behind a partnership at HunterMaclean, where he'd practiced for 41 years.
The Georgia Supreme Court has been clear on the issue of letting governments decide how to spend money, according to Stillwell. "We think it's a mistake," he said of the verdict. "It certainly opens a wide door—a lot wider than I think the appellate courts have allowed."
"It's likely that we will appeal," he said. "If we appeal, it will be on that grounds."
Stillwell sat at the defense table with the city's lead counsel, Malcolm Mackenzie III of Weiner Shearouse Weitz Greenberg & Shawe. Anthony Casella of the same firm served as co-counsel.
Stillwell said Chatham County State Court Judge Gregory Sapp erred in allowing testimony about how the city allocates resources for tree care and other responsibilities, which took up about a third of the nine-day trial. Stillwell said the plaintiff's argument that "the city should trim all the trees" would result in a "huge public outcry" if carried out. "That would destroy the city's tree canopy."
As if in testament to the importance of trees in Savannah, the one in question is still standing. "No one I know of is suggesting the tree should have been cut down," said Stillwell.
Three years ago, Greene, then 29, was hit by a falling limb from that tree. She had just finished her shift at Wendy's. Her cousin, Louis Anderson, had picked her up in his truck. They were on their way to take his son, Xavier, then 5, to a baby-sitter so they could shop for the family July 4 gathering, according to Spiva and Davis. They were driving on Bee Road at the intersection with 42nd Street when "a massive defective live oak limb extending over Bee Road failed and crushed the pickup truck," according to the plaintiff's summary in the consolidated pre-trial order.
Spiva said the limb likely weighed as much as the truck. It was 24 inches around and 40 feet to 70 feet long. Part of the limb went through Greene's lower body, destroying her hip and pelvis, dislocating her genitals, rectum and colon, damaging her liver and kidney. Rescue workers had to cut the tree limb out of her body to remove her from the pickup, bind her legs together and put her on a stretcher to be moved to an ambulance.
Doctors and staff at Memorial Health University Medical Center worked heroically to save her, Spiva said. To do so, they had to amputate her leg and perform a total of 30 operations. They had to fight infections and remove debris from the limb inside her body. Greene had no insurance benefits through her hourly job. Her medical bills ran to $1 million. She still needs five more operations to attempt to restore her digestive system, her lawyers said.
"She's an incredibly strong person," said Davis.
Greene made an effective witness. She rolled to the well of the courtroom in a wheelchair and hopped from it into the witness stand. When asked how much money she wanted, she said she was more concerned with making sure other people wouldn't be hurt the way she was.
Greene looked at Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson, who sat through the entire trial, and said that if the city wouldn't trim its trees that she would "get out there on one leg with a chain saw and cut them myself." Said Spiva, "The jury gave her everything but a standing ovation."
Although his client didn't name a dollar figure, Spiva did. He asked the jury for $15 million to $20 million, he confirmed. He said he ended his closing argument by asking the jury to send the city a message. Then he whispered his final words: "Make it loud."
Spiva said the jury included one African-American man, four African-American women (same as the plaintiff), two Hispanic men, one white man and four white women. The group included a nurse, a chemist, a controller, an engineer, an unemployed man and a 20-year-old, the youngest.
The jury began deliberating at 9 a.m. on the second Thursday of the trial, and came back with a verdict about 4 p.m. In addition to the $12 million for Greene, the jury awarded $20,000 to her cousin and $10,000 to her nephew for facial injuries they suffered, the trauma they witnessed, and for the destroyed truck.
Lawyers on both sides said it was the biggest personal injury verdict in the city's history. (Spiva said he was local counsel to Atlanta's Tommy Malone in the second biggest verdict, a $6 million medical malpractice verdict.)
In the tree case, Spiva alleged that the city "knew or should have known" of the defective condition of the tree on Bee Road. The complaint alleged that the city should have known because a nearby limb failed in 2007, and also that sidewalk work in 2008 damaged the tree's roots.
Witnesses for the city said the 2007 limb failure was from a different tree, and that no complaints had been made about the tree that hurt Greene.
Disputing that testimony, Spiva and Davis said they made effective use of video depositions, playing them back to impeach witnesses for the city. They found the technique made more of an impression on the jury than simply reading from a printed deposition.
The plaintiff's case alleged that the city erred when it moved from a "proactive" system of planned maintenance to a "reactive" method in which people called a special 311 phone line to report dangerous limbs as well as other complaints.
The city attorney said the 311 reporting system is "highly automated" and has resulted in greater efficiency in the provision of services in all areas. The city had received no service requests for the tree in question, he said. While the plaintiff's lawyers contended that the tree was damaged, decaying and full of ants, Stillwell said the limb that fell was green.
"We've said all along we don't think the city has any liability. We're very, very sorry this happened. It's a grievous injury to a nice lady," Stillwell said. "It's a difficult case because there's a lady who's very badly injured. We feel it was an accident."
Stillwell recalled a saying from his days at the University of Georgia Law School: "Difficult cases make bad law." He added that's because of the "temptation to find a remedy when the law doesn't provide one."
The case is Greene v. Savannah, No. STCV1200532.