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Court Nixes Appeal Of Complex Sued Over Shooting

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

TAMPA - In a 2-1 vote, a panel of judges today denied the appeal of an apartment complex that lost a $15.7 million judgment to a former resident who was shot three times in the head and survived.

In December 2001, Lai Chau was heading home to Remington Apartments when three young men tried to steal her car. The men took Chau with them, shot her in the head three times and left her for dead.

Chau sued the apartment complex and its holding company, arguing that the complex had a corporate policy to mislead tenants by concealing the high rate of crime occurring on the property.

When Chau signed her lease, an agent told her that the apartments had experienced no problems with crime for a couple of years. Evidence was presented at trial that showed violent crimes had occurred at the complex.

The jury awarded Chau $5.7 million in damages and an additional $10 million in punitive damages.

In an appeal, the corporate owners of Remington argued that the trial judge:

* Improperly banned a last-minute witness from testifying;

* Improperly kept the jury from seeing a portion of the lease agreement that says security services were not provided;

* And improperly awarded punitive damages.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal judges determined that Circuit Judge Sam D. Pendino had the option of preventing the witness from testifying. They determined that Pendino should have allowed the jury to see the lease wording but that it was a harmless error. Had the lease been admissible, Chau's attorneys could have told the jury that a lease cannot exclude the apartment complex from its duties to keep tenants safe, the opinion states.

The judges also determined that the facts of the case supported the jury's finding that punitive damages were warranted.

One of the three judges disagreed with the other two but did not write a separate opinion.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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