Faced with a severely injured plaintiff and a 2-1 panel decision against his defendant-architect clients, J. Bruce Bennett’s chances of prevailing in an en banc rehearing before Austin’s 3rd Court of Appeals didn’t look good. Yet Bennett’s clients won anyway.
According to the appeals court’s en banc 4-2 majority opinion, the background to the Aug. 5 decision in Black + Vernooy Architects, et al. v. Lou Ann Smith, et al. is as follows: The plaintiffs sued the defendants alleging negligence in connection with injuries two plaintiffs sustained when a home’s second-floor balcony they were standing on collapsed. Smith was rendered a paraplegic because of her injuries and Karen Gravely suffered a broken finger, a crushed toe and multiple bruises. Prior to trial, the plaintiffs settled with the homeowners and the general contractor who built the balcony. The plaintiffs proceeded to trial against the architects who designed the balcony and a jury found them liable, awarding Smith and her family $380,749.19, but awarding Gravely nothing.
