$3.86 Million Verdict After Stray Bullet Kills Sleeping Tenant at Decatur Apartment Complex

In the early hours of April 6, 2019, Tijuana Frazier was asleep in her bedroom at Eastwyck Village, an apartment complex in Decatur, Georgia, when a bullet fired from outside the building passed through the exterior wall and struck her. She died from her injuries. Her mother, Mildred Collins-Williams, as administrator of her daughter's estate, filed suit against property owner Contour Eastwyck LLC, alleging that the complex had been plagued by chronic violent crime and that management had done nothing meaningful to protect residents.

Before trial, the litigation exposed what Judge Charles A. Pannell Jr. called an 'intentional, bad-faith strategy of ignorance' on the part of the defendant. Contour Eastwyck failed to disclose 42 employees, suppressed security logs, allowed emails to be permanently deleted, sold the property without preserving case files, and failed to secure computers for evidence retention. In a 368-page opinion issued in December 2022, Judge Pannell struck the defendant's answer entirely, finding that the spoliation of evidence made 'the truth utterly unknowable.' Defense counsel were sanctioned jointly and severally for attorneys' fees, with the court describing them as 'willing accomplices and enablers' in the defendant's misconduct.

With liability effectively established by the sanctions order, the case went to a jury trial in March 2024. Mike Rafi and his co-counsel presented evidence that Eastwyck Village had a documented history of murders, armed robberies, aggravated assaults, and firearm discharges on and around the property. Despite that knowledge, Contour Eastwyck failed to investigate criminal activity, warn residents of the danger, or put meaningful security measures in place.

In March 2024, the jury returned a verdict totaling $3,858,548. The award included $1,000,000 for Tijuana Frazier's conscious pain and suffering, $858,548 for the full value of her life, and $2,000,000 in punitive damages against Contour Eastwyck LLC. The case later closed with no reduction of the verdict reported in court records.