A jury in Collin County recently sided with a construction staffing company that was seeking lost profits it incurred after an allegedly unaddressed rodent infestation in the leased Plano building it occupied forced it to move locations.
The jury, which was seated Feb. 12 in Collin County District Judge Andrea K. Bouressa’s courtroom and rendered its verdict Feb. 16, was tasked with deciding whether Harris Ventures — doing business as Staff Zone — or landlord JM-RB Properties violated the lease agreement, and who was entitled to damages. JM-RB was seeking to recover about $15,000 in unpaid rent and $120,000 in attorney fees, while Staff Zone asked the jury to award about $1.3 million in lost profits and $450,000 in attorney fees.
It took about two and a half hours for the jury to decide, 10-2, that JM-RB had breached the lease, that Staff Zone had not and that Staff Zone was entitled to damages. The jury awarded Staff Zone about $1.3 million in lost profits incurred when it was “constructively evicted” from the building it leased, $450,000 in attorney fees and about $150,000 to cover expert witness costs.
In opening statements, Paul Hastings associate Jake Rutherford, who represented Staff Zone, told the jury the case was about “responsibilities, rats and remedies.” Staff Zone’s lead attorney, Paul Genender of Paul Hastings, told The Lawbook jurors heard testimony that rats want three things: a place to eat, a place to sleep and a place to go to the bathroom.
In the three-suite building Staff Zone shared with a food pantry and a medical clinic, the rats hit the trifecta.
“They were eating at the food pantry, peeing and pooping over us and probably sleeping over the medical clinic,” Genender said.
“This case was important to the client and affirms the importance of health and safety and contractual rights and doing the right thing in a business relationship.”
Former Dallas County trial judge David R. Gibson, now of The Gibson Law Group, was JM-RB’s lead attorney. He issued a statement to The Lawbook on Wednesday vowing to appeal.
“The verdict is based largely on legally and factually insufficient evidence and will be challenged through a motion for new trial and on appeal if necessary,” he said.
Staff Zone had strategically leased the Plano office in 2016 to meet its specific business needs, jurors heard. The company offices near access to public transportation so that its temporary workers can get to and from work easily. The company, which has about 40 locations nationwide, also tries to locate its offices within a 30-minute bus ride of the construction sites it buses workers to daily.
By June 2021, the building was uninhabitable according to Plano officials who inspected and partially closed the space because of the rodent infestation, Staff Zone alleged, and it filed this lawsuit in May 2021.
But before litigation ensued, beginning in March 2021, the parties sent several letters back-and-forth, with Staff Zone asking JM-RB to seal the outside of the building to keep the rats out and JM-RB telling Staff Zone the infestation needed to be addressed via the services of an exterminator, a responsibility that was purely Staff Zone’s.
Staff Zone had also offered alternative solutions, Genender said, at one point asking permission to erect a temporary building in the parking lot to continue operating on premises.
That request was denied.
Genender said jurors heard from a city of Plano inspector who had to step outside soon after entering the building because of the smell. There was evidence presented at trial of rat droppings in the building and ceiling tiles soaked in urine, too.
“There was testimony from people who were threatening to quit, there was some testimony that people had trouble breathing,” he said. “But there was also testimony that people made it work.”
Two days before jury selection began, JM-RB filed discovery responses alleging there were no holes in the building. Genender said after “some active limine practice” Judge Bouressa agreed to keep that disclosure out of the trial.
But the jury did end up hearing the landlord’s allegation that there were no holes in the building, Genender said, twice during testimony and once during closing arguments.
“Frankly, the judge considered declaring a mistrial and ultimately decided not to,” he said, noting the statements did draw three separate instructions from the judge telling jurors to disregard it.
Genender also praised the work of Paul Hastings associate Marco Vasquez, who took the lead during the charge conference and also put on the witness from the City of Plano who inspected the building.
“It was a great division [of responsibilities],” Genender said. “It’s exactly the same template that I benefitted from when I was a young associate at Strasburger & Price.”
JM-RB Properties is also represented by Reagan R. Herod of The Gibson Law Group.
The case number is 471-02724-2021.