A Fulton County jury dished up a post-apportionment award of nearly $750,000 to a woman injured when she tripped while leaving an On the Border restaurant in Kennesaw.

Plaintiffs attorney Adam Taylor said the defense turned down a certified offer of judgment to settle the case for $400,000, so there will “likely be some litigation for attorney fees.”

Under Georgia's offer of settlement statute, a party that declines a settlement offer and then loses at trial by at least 25 percent more than the rejected offer may have to pay the winning party's attorney fees from the date of the offer.

Taylor said his client, Laura Hallisy, suffered a nonoperative radial head fracture to an elbow, a knee injury requiring surgery and two bulging discs in her spine. She incurred about $89,000 in medical bills.

Defense attorney Paul Buschman of Hinshaw & Culbertson in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, said he was not authorized to comment on the case.

Hallisy, 54, tripped on a “camouflaged” step leading from the restaurant's “to go”  entrance in 2015 after dining at the restaurant, said Taylor, who tried the case with Taylor Hughes & Zahler partner Scott Zahler.

“There were three steps going down, then a long fourth step we called a 'single step riser,'” said Taylor. “The handrail only goes down the length of three steps, and the riser and sidewalk are the same color. There's no visible cue that there's another stair there.”

“The added element was that, when the handrail ended, there was no indication that the stairs didn't end,” he said.

Hallisy sued the restaurant's corporate parent, OTB Acquisition LLC and the manager in 2016. The manager was dismissed prior to trial.   

Taylor said that, during a mediation before Art Glaser at Henning Mediation & Arbitration Services, the highest the defense would offer was $150,000.

“We were at $650,000 at the end of the mediation, then we sent the offer of judgment for $400,000,” Taylor said.  

Trial began Feb. 12 before Judge Eric Richardson.

Taylor said key plaintiff's witnesses included premises liability expert Jeffrey Gross and forensic photographer George Pearl.

“[Pearl] took photos of the stairs at night to replicate the lighting at the time of the accident,” Taylor said.

Defense witnesses included engineer Jerry Hopkins and radiologist Barry Jeffries.

According to the defense portion of the pretrial order, Hallisy caused the accident by failing to exercise reasonable care.

“In the three-year period prior to this incident, the defendants were aware of no falls or other incidents of customers tripping or falling in this area,” it said.

During closing arguments, Taylor said he asked the jury for a range of damages from $1 million to $2.2 million.

On Feb. 16, after about six hours of deliberations, the jury awarded $1,068,115 in damages, but apportioning 30 percent of the negligence to Hallisy, for a net award of $747,680.

Taylor said he spoke to the jurors afterward, but “they didn't talk much about how they reached their decision.”