Senior Partner Robert E. Schumacher and a former Reno associate obtained dismissal of GRSM’s client, the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) design engineer of record, in what would have been costly litigation involving a high-end, multi-use apartment housing project in Reno, Nevada.
The plaintiff was struck in a crosswalk adjacent to the ongoing project by a hit-and-run driver and sustained serious permanent injuries with a legitimate, multi-million dollar life care plan. The plaintiff sued the general contractor and design defendants for negligence, alleging that during construction, several streetlamps were temporarily relocated and/or removed as part of the project design, which caused the oncoming driver to be “blinded” and the pedestrian plaintiff, who was on the sidewalk adjacent to the project, to be “shadowed.” The plaintiff’s counsel contended that, as the MEP design engineer, GRSM’s client was responsible for the MEP design and, ultimately, the plaintiff’s injuries.
With limited exceptions, Nevada Revised Statutes require that a certificate of merit, signed by the appropriate design professional attesting to the professional negligence of another design professional, be filed concurrently with the complaint. The plaintiff did not include a certificate of merit with his complaint. GRSM filed a motion to dismiss on that basis. The plaintiff filed an opposition contending that the complaint contained allegations of both professional negligence and ordinary negligence.
After extensive briefing, the court took the matter under submission and thereafter issued an order granting GRSM’s motion to dismiss, dismissing the plaintiff’s complaint with prejudice. The plaintiff did not appeal the ruling. As a result of the ruling, GRSM secured savings of six figures in attorney’s fees and costs that otherwise would have been incurred by its client.
Schumacher joined GRSM nearly 16 years ago and is the former Las Vegas and Reno Managing Partner. He focuses his practice on complex class action and commercial litigation, professional liability, construction law, insurance coverage, and general liability matters.