Apartment complex, insurers must pay $11M in wasp death settlement
The complex's insurance limits were made up of a primary policy of $1 million and two excess policies of $5 million each, according to the plaintiff counsel.
An Atlanta litigator reached an $11 million settlement with operators of an apartment complex and its insurers after a known, yet untreated, wasp infestation contributed to the death of a tenant.
Now plaintiff counsel Ben Windham of Windham Law is outlining how he leveraged a global settlement demand to help secure the eight-figure result for the family of a man repeatedly stung at the Leaf Stone Apartment in Covington.
“We sent a global settlement demand to all three insurance companies with polices covering this loss,” Windham told the Daily Report. “The available limits of insurance were made up of a primary policy of $1 million and two excess policies of $5 million each.”
‘Went into anaphylactic shock’
Plaintiff counsel secured the settlement on behalf of the surviving spouse and adult child of Phil Meeks, who sustained life-altering injuries on the premises owned and operated by Patrician LS Manager LLC and other entities out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
According to Windham, one month after Meek and his wife moved into Leaf Stone, the husband reported to Patrician a red wasp infestation inside a dog waste bag dispenser within a common area in June 2021.
“He was assured the unsafe condition would be remedied,” Windham said. “A week later, Mr. Meek was stung multiple times when using the same bag dispenser.”
After the wasps stung Meek, plaintiff counsel said the defendant property operator assured the injured tenant that “the situation would be resolved.”
But two months later, Windham said wasps from the same nest at the bag dispenser stung Meek again on Aug. 12, 2021.
“On this occasion, Mr. Meek went into anaphylactic shock and never fully recovered,” Windham said.
After spending four weeks in the hospital, plaintiff counsel said Meek’s inability to secure placement at a long-term care facility resulted in his extended family having to intervene in the provision of his care.
“Mr. Meek spent his next fourteen months in a makeshift hospital [and] hospice at his sister in law’s one level modest home,” Windham said. “He succumbed to his injuries on Oct. 30, 2022.”
‘Direct and proximate cause’
In an initial complaint filed in August 2022, plaintiff counsel contended the defendant property operator’s negligence had been “the direct and proximate cause of Mr. Meek’s severe personal injuries.”
In addition to breaching its duty to maintain the common areas of the apartment complex, the plaintiff complaint alleged the defendant negligently failed to properly remove the wasp nest or take preventative measures ranging from poisoning the wasp nest to placing wasp traps.
“Despite Patrician and the other defendants’ having a long-term contract with a professional pest control company, no one from management or maintenance contacted them,” Windham said before noting the complex had received “multiple complaints of wasp infestation in the common areas.”
Read: Plaintiff Complaint and Amended Complaint
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On top of a jury trial, plaintiff counsel sought to recoup awards for “the full value of the life of Phil Meek to Angela Meek,” medical expenses incurred and compensation for conscious pain and suffering endured prior to Meek’s death, funeral and burial expenses “and all other relief deemed equitable and appropriate under the circumstances.”
In addition to Patrician, plaintiff counsel named Leaf Stone Community Supervisor Lindsay Battle as a defendant.
Jason Darneille of Gower Wooten & Darneille in Atlanta represented the defendants but had not responded to a Daily Report request for comment as of Thursday morning.
According to Windham, opposing counsel disagreed about Georgia law pertaining to hazards posed by animals, or ferae naturae, and what constituted “equal knowledge” capable of legally preventing a plaintiff from recovery in the Peach State.
To overcome the potential hurdle and strengthen his clients’ case, plaintiff counsel retained a pair of experts, including an entomologist and a pest control specialist. According to Windham, the experts determined that the nest located two days after Meek’s fatal stings had been the same nest he’d initially reported in early June, despite assurances by the defendant that Meek’s concern would be addressed.
“Ultimately, the assistant maintenance supervisor of the complex admitted on the record that he had never removed a nest until after the fatal event,” Windham said, before referencing a redacted text exchange.
‘Global settlement demand’
Based on the expert determinations, Windham said he felt confident that sufficient material issues of fact existed in the record for both a judge and jury “to make a finding that the defendants had superior knowledge and lacked any appropriate policies and inspection procedures to keep the premises safe, especially after having been put on notice of the danger.”
That confidence led plaintiff counsel to attempt to resolve the matter in October 2023.
“Plaintiffs served a global settlement demand to all three insurance carriers for the total amount of available insurance of $11 million, accompanied by a settlement agreement and release that would only release all defendants upon payment of the total available insurance, but reminding each carrier that they could create a safe harbor for themselves by making independent decisions to control what they could,” Windham said. “The first carrier tendered their $1 million limits on Dec. 1, 2023. A few weeks later, coverage counsel entered the matter for the first carrier and demanded a release to which they were not entitled under my clients’ global settlement demand. I did, however, draft and provide them with a ‘policy release,’ that would protect the carrier and give their insureds a set off for the limits they paid.”
But, as litigation progressed, defense counsel filed a subsequent motion for summary judgment after the completion of discovery. Plaintiff counsel responded by filing a cross-motion for summary judgment. The pair of motions landed opposing counsel before Fulton County State Court Judge Eric A. Richardson for an oral argument in April.
Rather than grant either side’s summary judgment request, Richardson issued a pair of denials before setting the matter on a four week calendar set to begin on Sept. 3.
With his motion denied, plaintiff counsel continued to prepare for trial but also doubled down on his resolve to settle the matter with the defendants’ two remaining insurance carriers.
The dedicated efforts paid off.
“We obtained the total amount of insurance available of $11 million for Mr. Meek’s surviving spouse and adult child,” Windham said.
Plaintiff counsel applauded the joint efforts of Cozen O’Conner Global Insurance Department Vice Chair Alycen Moss’ for her representation of the first excess carrier.
“I believe [Moss] was likely going to enter the case for trial. She was the consummate professional in helping all parties achieve closure in the case,” Windham said. “The second insurance layer of $5 million tendered its limits on June 17 and the final excess layer of $5 million tendered its limits on June 21.”
As of Wednesday morning, Moss had not responded to a Daily Report request for comment regarding the $11 million settlement.