Premises Liability

In Commercial Guest v. Auctioneer (Northern California Superior Court), Khaldoun Baghdadi and Valerie Rose recovered $2,250,000 on behalf of a 30-year-old auto auction attendee. Our client was injured when he was struck by a truck operated by one of the auctioneer’s employees, sustaining major crush injuries to his legs and pelvis which required five different surgeries. As a condition of attending the auction, the defendant included a preprinted waiver and assumption of risk agreement on the back of a “Guest Pass” required for entry to the property. A motion for summary judgment based upon the terms of the waiver was filed by the defendant. Khaldoun and Valerie opposed the motion on the basis that the terms of the waiver did not absolve the defendant of its own negligence, that the document was misrepresented as a “Guest Pass,” and that the waiver was not properly explained to the plaintiff, a Spanish-speaker who did not understand or read English. The matter was mediated while the summary judgment motion was pending.