West Palm Beach attorney William Price’s law office building has stood vacant for more than two years due to damage from his neighboring apartment's wall of bricks collapsing.
A judge awarded Price and his company $1.5 million dollars for the cost of repairs and lost wages from the 2016 collapse at Alexander Lofts.
The city said rusted metal rods were to blame when hundreds of pounds of bricks fell off an outside wall of Alexander Lofts, injuring several people and falling on the roof of the law office.
“Mr. Price was very pleased with the jury’s verdict,” said Price’s attorney, Greg Weiss, in a statement to WPTV. “It’s clear that the jury was attentive and focused during the trial, and was persuaded by the evidence presented on behalf of both Five Solas, LLC and William Price, PA and awarding damages as they did.”
During the week-long trial, the attorney for the owner of Alexander Lofts and the property management group, Todd Ehrenreich, claimed the law firm poorly installed a tarp on their roof to cover up the bricks and caused water to settle.
Weiss said, however, the firm had to immediately vacate the building after the collapse because the city put a red label on it marking it unsafe to be inside of.
"When the red tag was removed, they found water flowing inside the building," said Weiss. "They were left with a gut job."
The jury awarded nearly $1 million to Five Solas, LLC, Price’s company, for costs of repairs, $300,000 for lost rent, and $270,000 to Price for lost revenue and expenses.
“We believe that once the court hears our post-trial motions, the verdict will be reduced accordingly,” Ehrenreich said.