A woman that suffered injuries caused by carbon monoxide poisoning via her apartment furnace has been awarded $28.2 million in damages, in what may be the greatest amount awarded in the state for a personal injury, as reported by the Star-Tribune from Wyoming.
A.L., 23, was poisoned in 2011 while she resided in the Sunridge Apartments in Casper.
A.L.'s attorney Tyson Logan commented, "What I have been told is it's the largest personal injury verdict in the state of Wyoming."
Injuries sustained were declared in the lawsuit as loss of memory, problems with concentration, processing speed, attention and an inability to perform multiple tasks.
A.L. said, "When I moved in there, I assumed everything was checked out and it was safe for me to live in."
The suit alleged that prior to A.L. moving in both the owner of the apartment building and the manager ignored warning signs that the furnaces were a danger to renters, and failed to fix or replace them.
The furnace in A.L.'s apartment was 30 years old. Logan claimed that after his client was poisoned the unit was removed in an effort to hide its faults.
A federal court jury in Cheyenne ruled on December 20 that the apartment owner, Sunridge Partners LLC of Newport Beach, Calif., and the property management company, Apartment Management Consultants LLC of Salt Lake City, were responsible for A.L.'s injuries.
On December 26 U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson entered the judgment against the two defendants.
According to Wyoming state law landlords must provide their tenants with safe housing – which includes a heating unit that works and is safe.
Logan commented, "What it means is that landlords actually have to live up to their responsibilities to provide a safe place for tenants, not just a soft promise in Wyoming, and landlords will be held accountable if they refuse to do that."
According to A.L. on February 1, 2011 she woke up feeling exhausted, had a headache, dizziness and ringing in her ears. Soon she began to feel disorientated, lost track of who she spoke to on the phone when she called for help and couldn't keep track of her time.
Lucky for A.L. her apartment had a gas leak that smelled – carbon monoxide is odorless and more difficult to detect – and an apartment employee recognized the problem.
Logan added, "One of the doctors that testified said that based on the calculations of how concentrated the gas was in her apartment when they pulled her out, she would have been dead in 60 to 90 minutes if they wouldn't have gotten there."
Sunridge has been ordered to pay $750,000 in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages. Apartment Management Consultants is responsible to pay $1.95 million in compensatory damages and $22.5 million in punitive damages.
Of the award A.L. said that the sum will "help me be able to do the things that I still want to do, that I still aspire to do. But my reality is my day-to-day life is different than it used to be."
Have you been injured in a private or public space? Contact a personal injury lawyer to talk about what has happened to you, and file your lawsuit to sue for damages!