$5.3 Million Verdict After Homeowner Abandons Ladder, Fracturing Worker's Spine

On October 30, 2021, Danford Marin was at Robert Affleck's Boulder-area home helping him prepare for an upcoming move. The task called for Marin to climb a ladder to remove decorative trim from around a window. Marin asked Affleck to hold the base of the ladder while he went up. Affleck agreed, then stepped away without telling Marin.

Marin fell. He landed in rose bushes and struck the ground hard enough to fracture his spine and injure his shoulder. The injuries were severe and lasting.

Affleck denied he had ever been holding the ladder. His defense was that Marin bore responsibility for the accident: he had positioned the ladder on a slippery surface, set it at an unsafe angle, and failed to follow basic ladder safety rules. The case came down to competing accounts of what Affleck agreed to do and whether he did it.

Attorneys Sande Hagen, Anastasia Evans, and Zeke Maggard of The Wilhite Law Firm tried the case in Boulder District Court before Judge Robert Gunning in July 2024. The jury sided with Marin. It found Affleck 85 percent at fault and Marin 15 percent comparatively negligent, and awarded $5,300,000 gross. After applying Colorado's proportionate fault reduction, Marin's net recovery was $4,505,000.

The verdict ranked among the ten largest plaintiff's jury verdicts in Colorado for 2024, as reported by Law Week Colorado drawing on data from the Jury Verdict Reporter of Colorado.