Successes

Oil Spill Brings A Defense Verdict in Property Damage Trial

Mr. Stapleton tried a property damage case involving the pumping of a disputed amount of home heating oil into the basement of a land-marked property in the Hamilton Terrace section of Harlem. The plaintiff discovered the oil spill when the strong smell of oil awoke him from his sleep.  The oil was promptly cleaned up, but the plaintiff claimed the oil seeped beneath the foundation of his home, thereby requiring the complete remediation of subsurface soil and the total interior demolition and re-build of the house.  The defense theory was that the oil had been properly and promptly cleaned up, and that the subsurface oil was the product of several earlier oil spills (a theory borne out by the testimony of the prior home owner and a chemist who did comparative analysis of the oil found in the basement and the oil found beneath the home).  A defense verdict was retuned after two hours of deliberation.