PWD Recovers $300,000 for Man Who Falls off Roof
In 2015, a homeowner pleaded with Mr. Vazquez to repair her roof in a small-town north of Tampa. Mr. Vasquez was not a roofer. He was handy, but his profession was window tinting in the local area. The homeowner did not want to pay a professional roofer. After pleading many times, Mr. Vazquez finally stopped resisting and agreed to do the job. On the last day of this four-week job, Mr. Vazquez fell head-first from the roof, through the screen enclosure, and struck the pool deck. Nobody saw the accident happen. Mr. Vazquez’ head injury was so serious that he had no memory of the event. All that was known to Mr. Vasquez family at the time, was that the homeowner’s elderly father had been flown back to his home country for an extended time. Something was odd.
The homeowner had no assets beyond a $300,000 homeowners insurance policy. The insured carrier rejected the case because Mr. Vazquez was an independent contractor and because, it asserted, there was zero evidence of homeowner negligence.
Struggling to find any lawyer to represent him, Mr. Vazquez and his family turned to PWD. PWD dug in on the mysterious disappearance of the homeowner’s father back to his home country. PWD filed suit. And after multiple depositions of family members, a picture started to come into view. The elderly father was on the roof when Mr. Vazquez fell. Witnesses arriving shortly after the fall saw the man staring directly down at Mr. Vazquez. The elderly father, who had a history of strokes, claimed no memory of the events. Depositions, however, revealed that the homeowner had specifically requested her frail father to get up on the roof and inspect the work before Mr. Vazquez left. Depositions and the physical evidence also revealed that the father must have leaned on Mr. Vazquez as he finished the final touches on the roof. Finally, after two year of litigation, the insurance carrier paid the full $300,000 policy.
This money will help Mr. Vazquez re-start his life and re-start his window tinting business. We are honored to have represented Mr. Vazquez and help his rebuild his life.
