Track in Jonathan's Landing Golf Club. Courtesy photo.

Scott Schlesinger feels it's hard to call triumphant verdicts an outright win when the circumstances underpinning the case are singularly dire.

Attorneys with the Fort Lauderdale personal injury litigator's firm Schlesinger Law Offices helped to represent James Schnurr and his wife Christine in a premises liability suit against Jonathan's Landing Golf Club in Palm Beach Circuit Court.

Schnurr, the former chief accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, sustained a catastrophic injury while riding his bike in the member's-only community on April 10, 2016. Trailing behind his wife, Schnurr struck a stanchion which ejected him from his bike. Although his wife promptly called emergency services, the accident left Schnurr with irreparable injuries, rendering him a permanent quadriplegic and, in Schlesinger's words, committing him “to a lifetime of disability.”

“Prevailing in these kind of cases, you can't use the word 'win,' ” Schlesinger said, remarking on the debilitating nature of Schnurr's condition. “ No one can turn back the clock. … That would be a win.”

Schlesinger's brother and fellow litigator Gregg worked alongside Zane Berg and other attorneys from the Schlesinger Law Offices to net the Schnurrs a $41 million verdict against the property owners' association at the country club May 15. The plaintiffs' legal team argued the stanchion Schnurr collided with had no place on the property, was overly difficult to notice and violated decades-old safety rules for sidewalks and roadways in South Florida.

“It was an accident waiting to happen,” Schlesinger said, noting the site of the client's mishap was the only place on the property where wooden posts of that sort had been placed. “The word they used in the beautification notes on the property was camouflage. Heaven forbid there should be an unsightly yellow thing that'd be easy to see. … It has to be highly visible [for roadways], it has to be conspicuous, it has to be striped. … Everything about this was just bad.”

The case was brought to the attention of Schlesinger Law Offices by Thomas Angelo of the Angelo & Banta firm in Fort Lauderdale.

“After evaluating … I knew that Gregg and that firm were the right firm to handle the case,” Angelo said. He referred to his co-counsel as “great guys” with a great office. Angelo added he handled the real estate elements of the litigation and argued the directed verdict motion. “We worked on and tried the case together. … We're really thrilled with the success and outcome of the case.”

Berg said the plaintiff's case revolved around their contention the stanchion Schnurr hit and an identical one nearby “were illegally placed in violation of the permitting requirements” of Palm Beach County.

“A permit was definitely required for the installation of these types of objects on a multiuse pathway, even going back to the conception of this community in the late 1970s,” Berg said. “They would've been denied and rejected had they even been submitted for permitting to the applicable authorities.”

Berg said the substance of the claim revolved around the defendant's knowledge of the risks the stanchions posed to people using the promenade.

“When you get down to it, was there a dangerous condition on the property they knew or should have known about?,” he said. “Was there a dangerous condition they failed to warn our client about?”

Read the verdict form: 

The case was built largely around the testimony of engineering and architectural experts who spoke to the unsafe and unlawful quality of the poles on the pathway. This included general contractor and former Boca Raton City Engineer Henry Hillman.

“He's intimately familiar with the requirements of Palm Beach County and was able to testify with authority with regards to what would have happened had plans for these bollards as installed and designed had been submitted. … These bollards would have required a permit under any of the codes, all of them,” Berg said, adding the fixtures would've been rejected by the proper officials in any iteration of the county's building regulations through the decades. “All of the witnesses that we called to testify … we thought were necessary and contributed to the case.”

The country club's answer and affirmative defenses to the plaintiff's complaint argued “James Schnurr conducted himself in a careless and negligent manner by failing to observe where he biked.” The filing contended Schnurr “was biking recklessly” and the bollards at the center of the dispute were “open and obvious at the time of the plaintiff's alleged accident.” Berg said the plaintiffs countered by directing the jury to the spatial positions of the Schnurrs when the incident occurred as well as the color of the stanchions.

“One of the flaws with their argument was they never positioned Mrs. Schnurr in front of Mr. Schnurr in any of their scenarios in front of the jury. … She was some level of obstruction to his view looking forward,” he said. Berg explained one of the reasons guidelines advise against installing stanchions on multiuse pathways is because “If the first bike rider goes around it, the second bike rider doesn't see the bollard until it's too late.”

Berg added the pole's tan and beige coloring blended in with its surroundings. “Human factors expert Robert Kennedy [testified] to the lack of conspicuity that these bollards have,” the attorney said. “One of the analogies made at trial was it was like looking for a polar bear in an ice storm.”

Schlesinger and Zane chalked up the substantial award to the extent of Schnurr's disabilities and the large earning capacity he lost as a result of the accident.

“Every single act, every single element of daily life is impaired,” Schlesinger said, adding the plaintiff was unable to travel from his New York City home to testify due to his condition.

Todd Ehrenreich, managing partner with Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith's Miami office, served on the defendant's legal team. The civil litigator said he expects “there's going to be a considerable reduction before the final verdict is entered,” pending several posttrial motions.

“Some parts of the gross verdict were not reflective of the testimony,” Ehrenreich said. “We're asking the court to further reduce to better reflect the numbers presented by the plaintiff.”

Schlesinger said regardless of what happens next, the plaintiffs and their family have already achieved “some satisfaction and a degree of relief.”

“Just getting the verdict provides some measure of a sense of justice,” Schlesinger said. “Prevailing, overcoming the opponents' defense, proving the case and having members of the community see it your way … is a form of approval and understanding, and that's a road to some sort of satisfaction of the concept of justice.”

Case: James Schnurr and Christine Schnurr v. J.L. Property Owners Association

Case no.: 2016-CA-009882

Description: Premises liability

Filing date: Aug. 30, 2016

Verdict date: May 15, 2019

Judge: Palm Beach Circuit Judge Lisa Small

Plaintiffs attorneys: Gregg Schlesinger, Zane Berg, and Cristina Sabbagh, Schlesinger Law Offices, Fort Lauderdale; Crane Johnstone, Johnstone Law, Fort Lauderdale; Thomas Angelo, Angelo & Banta, Fort Lauderdale

Defense attorneys: Todd Ehrenreich, Kathryn Ender, and Brian Goldenberg, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, Miami; Arthur Laplante and Martin Stern, Hinshaw & Culbertson, Fort Lauderdale

Verdict amount: $41,050,000