Nearly $1 million in revoked attorney fees and spoliation sanctions are at stake as a dispute between the City of Atlanta and a plaintiff who fell into a water meter box is scheduled to come before the state Court of Appeals on April 24.
The city, represented by Thomas Reilly, W. Alex Smith and Mark Bailey of Troutman Pepper, argued the trial court abused its discretion in imposing extreme spoliation sanctions for not preserving the manhole cover the plaintiff stepped on. Meanwhile, the plaintiff, represented by Max Thelen and Seth Lowry of Ashby Thelen Lowry, Dwight Chamberlin of the Chamberlin Firm and solo practitioner Bo Gray, cross-appealed, arguing a jury award of $944,680 in attorney fees should be reinstated because the city acted in bad faith and was stubbornly litigious.
Max Thelen, of Ashby Thelen Lowry in Marietta. (Courtesy photo)
