Carjack victim awarded millions

A jury says a former USF student should get $5.6-million from her apartment complex, with punitive damages to come.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
Published December 16, 2004

	Lai Chau has partial hearing loss and other scars as the result of her injuries in the carjacking.
	Related 10 News video: Jury awards injured apartment resident millions

TAMPA - Four hours into deliberations, the jury asked for a calculator.

Lawyers from both sides just paced.

An hour later, the panel awarded University of South Florida student Lai Chau $5.6-million, finding a north Tampa apartment complex negligent in her December 2001 abduction and shooting.

Jurors - four women and two men - also decided to slap owners and managers of the Remington Apartment Homes on 30th Street with punitive damages and will reconvene today to determine the amount.

The civil judgment Wednesday in Hillsborough Circuit Court against owner Southstar Equity and property manager Brookside Properties was about half of the $11.6-million lawyers requested for Chau, who was 20 when attacked.

"We're obviously pleased," said Chau's attorney, Fred Zinober. He said the award "showed the lack of concern on the part of the apartment complex for the safety of the tenants."

Chau, a pharmacy student, was abducted from the Remington parking lot three years ago this week, driven around town for about a half-hour and shot in the head three times.

Her lawyers argued that the community's security system was flawed and its lighting was bad.

Lawyers for Remington's owners and managers contended they never offered protection because it can never be guaranteed.

"We're very disappointed," said attorney Billy Gunn, who represented Southstar Equity and Brookside Properties. "If the jury had been able to hear all the evidence, the outcome would have been different."

Gunn said the jury was not permitted to read the lease agreement, which stated that security was not provided, and didn't hear testimony from the leasing agent who showed Chau the property. The agent wasn't identified and located until recently, Gunn said.

Those two issues will form the basis of an appeal, he said.

With punitive damages still ahead, jurors did not comment on their decision. But the verdict did not surprise the two alternates who sat on the jury for two weeks, only to learn they would not be needed.

Alternate jurors Angela McCutcheon and Craig Gordon returned to the courtroom to hear the verdict.

McCutcheon surmised that testimony from corporate executives swayed jurors.

"It concerned me they were not informing residents (of crime problems)," she said.

The jury awarded Chau $1.6-million for damages, lost earnings and medical expenses and $4-million for pain and suffering. Her lawyer told jurors during closing statements that she owes $186,000 in medical bills and faces $40,000 more. An expert estimated her lost earning capacity at $1.47-million.

Jurors began deliberating at 9:45 a.m., only to ask 15 minutes later for extra copies of documents.

At 12:30 p.m., they informed the judge that someone had spilled soda on documents and asked for another copy.

At 1:45 p.m., they requested the calculator. Judge Sam Pendino provided them with his own personal calculator.

Chau, not present for the verdict, testified during the trial that she was sold on Remington because it had security gates and individual alarms in each unit.

The night she was abducted, Dec. 13, 2001, her attackers slipped into the gate by piggybacking in after another resident.

Chau was getting out of her Acura Integra shortly after 11 p.m. when she was forced back into her car at gunpoint. After the shootings, she was left for dead near Forest Hills Elementary School.

The shooter, Jabari "J.B." Armstrong, is serving a life sentence. Tobaris Arrington, who also took part in the abduction, is serving a 17-year prison term. A third participant, Anthony Smith, was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Chau now has partial hearing loss, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and bears scars from her injuries.

[Last modified December 16, 2004, 09:16:14]