An investigation by a Coral Gables attorney into the safety practices of a nationwide food retailer helped secure $1.1 million for a client injured at one of it stores.

Adam Josephs helped negotiate a Dec. 4 settlement between Jetro Restaurant Depot, described as “the Costco for restaurant owners,” and Miami-Dade resident Antonio Maurici, who sued over an in-store 2016 incident that required him to receive surgery.

“The plaintiff was shopping for Italian deli meats when a R.D. employee attempted to drive a forklift stacked full of empty wood pallets through the aisle next to the plaintiff,” said Josephs, who served as Maurici's legal counsel. “When the employee realized he wouldn't be able to maneuver through the aisle, he came to a stop. The pallets, which were unsafely overstacked and not secured, toppled over on to the plaintiff.”

Josephs explained each pallet can weigh between 30 and 65 pounds, and it was not uncommon for Restaurant Depot to stack as many as 20 on top of one another for forklift transport.

Maurici underwent several operations as a result of his injuries, including surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. Josephs said he was shocked to learn his client's injuries had been caused by a forklift.

“How does a forklift end up anywhere near a customer in a retail store?” Josephs asked. “With barricades, spotters and other safety measures, there shouldn't ever be an opportunity for this to happen.”

Read the complaint: 

Upon the filing of Maurici's lawsuit four-count lawsuit in December 2017, Restaurant Depot claimed while “video was captured on the date of incident and is in defendant's possession,” the store has been “unable to retrieve said footage from its hard drive at this time.”

“In other words, the video footage from the date of the accident was 'accidentally' deleted,” Josephs said. In light of the plaintiff's inability to obtain video evidence, an independent investigation was conducted into Restaurant Depot's safety policies.

“In addition to speaking to other attorneys throughout the Southeastern United States, we personally looked through the online court files for the jurisdiction where each Restaurant Depot was located,” Josephs said. “When online access wasn't available, we had investigators visit the clerk in the jurisdiction in order to review the docket and every negligence complaint against Restaurant Depot.”

Following a court order to disclose all forklift-related accidents in the last five years, Restaurant Depot revealed that four had taken place. According to Josephs, it quickly became clear through his investigation this was “a gross understatement” of the true number of incidents.

“There were more than 15 prior forklift accidents involving customers that should have been disclosed,” he said. “In most negligence cases involving retailers, the occurrence of prior accidents in other store locations is not relevant to the issues in the subject case. In our case, we were able to demonstrate to the court that the history of prior forklift accidents around the country was highly relevant to a number of issues. Not only the negligence of Restaurant Depot in creating flawed polices and procedures, but its reckless disregard of its customer safety in light of the history of prior forklift accidents, which we believe would entitle the plaintiff to assert a claim for punitive damages.”

After the discovery of additional accidents, Restaurant Depot admitted to liability. The court then entered an order granting sanctions against the defendant, as well as awarding Maurici attorney fees.

The defendant responded to these orders — as well as an order requiring Restaurant Depot to disclose every forklift accident around the U.S. for the previous decade — with a challenge at the Third District Court of Appeals. Following a temporary stay, the Third DCA denied Restaurant Depot's petition for certiorari.

With the three motions pending, the parties reached a $1.1 million settlement on the eve of trial.

“I have no way of knowing whether Restaurant Depot has learned from this accident and made adjustments to its internal policies to better protect its customers,” Josephs said. “However, given the number of accidents and the manner in which its policies were created and are implemented, it seems as though they treat forklift accidents as nothing more than a cost of doing business.”

He added, “I suspect it is only a matter of time before they are punished by a jury with punitive damages.”

Resnick & Louis attorney Carolina Santangelo helped represent Restaurant Depot but declined to comment. Co-counsel Rob Squire, also of Resnick & Louis, did not respond to requests for comment.

Case: Antonio Maurici & Rosa Marie Maurici v. Jetro Restaurant Depot  d/b/a Restaurant Depot and Moises De La Cruz Case No.: 2017-027744-CA-01 Description: Premises liability / forklift accident Filing date: Dec. 4, 2017 Settlement: Dec. 4, 2018 Judge: Judge Spencer Eig Plaintiff attorney: Adam C. Josephs, The Josephs Law Firm, Coral Gables Defense attorney: Carolina Santangelo and Rob Squire, Resnick & Louis PC Settlement Amount: $ 1.1 million