After Robert Friedrich suffered the fall from his chair in the law firm's conference room in 2003, he went for trial and the jury ruled in his favor. However, on appeal the award was reversed by the appellate court which found that causation had not been established and the court directed a defense verdict.
On further appeal to the High Court, the Florida Supreme Court came to the conclusion that establishment of causation was a matter of fact and not of law, and hence the appeals court had erred in superimposing its view on the question of facts that had already been decided by a jury.
Following the incident, Friedrich suffered headaches and neck pain, severe back pain, numbness of his extremities and disturbance of sleep. He consulted multiple doctors for two years - and had to undergo a spinal fusion surgery, which ultimately helped him regain his health to an extent.
An expert on behalf of Friedrich had argued at trial court that an inspection would have revealed the weak joint in the chair and the law firm was liable for the collapse as businesses should test chairs every six months. The jury had agreed, though later the appeals court did not.
The opinion of the Florida Supreme Court observed, "a review of the district court's opinion and the record demonstrates that the district court impermissibly reweighed the evidence and substituted its own evaluation of the evidence in place of that of the jury."
The Florida Supreme Court also observed that in the matter "The parties had presented expert witnesses who provided different opinions regarding whether Fetterman should have or could have discovered the defect of the chair upon reasonable inspection."
