In this Santa Clara County Superior Court trial where a $1 million verdict was awarded, Matthew Davis and Justin Chou represented the daughter and widow of a man killed when struck by a diseased tree while in a public park. The retired decedent was from oversees visiting his daughter, and bicycled to a local park while the family was at work. During Mr. Zhou’s visit to the park a 100 foot tall eucalyptus tree owned by San Jose uprooted and fell on him, killing him instantly. When the City rejected reasonable attempts to resolve the case, Matthew and Justin represented the bereaved daughter and widow in a jury trial.
Davis and Chou, working with a top expert in the field of arboriculture, determined that not only had the City failed to inspect and maintain the subject tree, but had contributed to its death by suffocating the tree’s structural roots. A challenge at trial was overcoming language, cultural, and national barriers to demonstrate the deceased father and husband’s loss to his surviving family. The Walkup team obtained a successful $1,000,000 verdict for our clients.
