A South Florida attorney has secured a $1 million settlement for his client in a slip-and-fall lawsuit against a neglected South Florida property.

The case highlights the growing problem of aging buildings and the consequences of failing to maintain common areas.

Jorge P. Gutierrez Jr. of The Gutierrez Firm took over the case of Eloy Rodriguez Martinez in Martinez v. Washington Park Condominium Association just before the lawsuit was filed, but he was more than ready to take the fight to trial if necessary.

 

"If you have a significant case, you need to bring somebody with a big bat and somebody that's not afraid to go to trial, because that's the only way you're ever going to get significant money," Gutierrez said of the policy limits settlement. The condo's insurer was Great American, doing business as American Empire Surplus Lines Ins. Co.

The incident occurred in an older building in Miami Beach, where Rodriguez Martinez and his wife had lived for a couple of years. Gutierrez described the deplorable conditions in the parking lot that led to his client's injuries.

"You looked at the pictures, and there's a depression in the parking lot that pooled water. There's mold. Not painted, not up kept," Gutierrez said.

The 40-year-old Rodriguez Martinez, who worked as a butcher and welder, was trying to get into his car when he fell into the hole in the parking lot, severely injuring his ankle.

"This guy messed up his ankle, ended up having ankle arthroscopy, not a fusion, and not a surgery right away, but ended up having three different doctors all tell him he had issues with his ankle," Gutierrez explained.

Despite the relatively minor surgery, the injury prevented Rodriguez Martinez from returning to his physically demanding jobs.

Gutierrez secured a life-care plan for his client, who did not speak English and had a limited education. "This is a guy that did not speak English, a Spanish speaker only, not educated based upon his work history," he said. Gutierrez was prepared to take the case to trial, and he made it clear to the condo association that he was not afraid to do so.

The threat of a potentially larger verdict, combined with Gutierrez's reputation as an experienced trial attorney, led the insurance company to pay the $1 million settlement just before the trial was set to begin, the attorney said.

"I had two members of the [homeowners association] at mediation, and I was very direct with them. I said, 'Look, you guys need to pay this case, because if not, I'm going to go after the association and you're going to have issues," referring to possible future assessments to homeowners should a jury find for the plaintiff and award much more than the what was being asking for.

Gutierrez sees this case as part of a broader problem in Miami Beach, where aging condominium associations are failing to maintain their properties, putting residents at risk, especially in the wake of the tragic Surfside condo collapse in June 2021.

"Miami Beach [condos] and the way they operate, they're not taking care of basic maintenance, and it's creating issues from a liability perspective because people are getting seriously injured on things that could have been prevented," Gutierrez said. "I think the biggest thing in this case is the pictures of what condition the condo was in. I mean, there was no sugarcoating that; it was just a bad situation. A big pool of water, mold, algae, peeling paint. … They just didn't even try to fix anything."