Tyrone Law Firm Receives Justice for Crime Victim: $5.25M Verdict in DeKalb Shooting at Apartment Complex

It’s about 8:30 one May evening in 2007, as Nathan Polite leaves his apartment and walks on the cut-through path in the back of his apartment complex to go next door to the Chevron to get a snack. As he leaves Chevron and begins to return to his apartment building at Stonebridge, he is suddenly surprised and attacked by two male assailants. One of the men throws liquid in Nathan’s face. The liquid stings and Nathan is temporarily blinded. Frightened that the two men are trying to rob him, Nathan begins to run. After several steps, he hears a gunshot and falls to the ground. The impact is so forceful that Nathan is literally thrown from his shoes. At the time of his shooting, Nathan was only 24 years old.
As a result of the gunshot, Nathan is now an ASIA-C paraplegic, which means that he has lost a great deal of motor control and sensation in his legs, and now must always walk with the assistance of a cane. He walks with a waddling motion and will never be able to walk normally again. Nathan also experiences loss of bladder and bowel control on a regular basis. His doctors say that he will be confined to a wheelchair by the time he is 45 years old.
Last Friday (September 14th) the Tyrone Law Firm obtained a $5.25 Million dollar verdict for Nathan in the State Court of Dekalb County against the owners (Doubleview Ventures) and mangers (Westdale Asset Management Co.) of Nathan’s apartment complex (Stonebridge Apartments). Stonebridge failed to finish the metal fence they started around the property and saved money by connecting to a neighboring property’s wooden fence which offered no protection to residents. When people would push slats out of the wooden fence, Stonebridge eventually installed a gate in the fence to allow access to the path. But the wooden gate was left open and never locked. By installing this gate in the wooden section of fence which ran along the back of their property, Stonebridge gave unlimited access to non-residents to come onto the complex and commit crimes against residents. And by keeping the wooden fence and gate rather than a see-through metal fence, Stonebridge actually created a hiding place for criminals to lie in wait behind the wooden doors which opened out onto each side of the gate. If Stonebridge would have cared enough about residents to finish the fence and had continued the wrought-iron fencing which surrounded the rest of Stonebridge property along this back section, Nathan’s attack, and attacks on at least two other residents never would have occurred. Stonebridge also neglected to ever give notice to their residents of any of the attacks which preceded Nathan’s.
The complex’s own security officer warned the complex that the “gate” was allowing non-residents easy access to commit crimes on residents, the complex never closed the gate or replaced it with wrought iron, and this officer was eventually transferred to another property. Numerous requests were also made by one property manager in her weekly Service Manager reports to have something done about the fence, however, she was later let go by the apartment complex due to “religious differences”.
The tragedy is that this was an entirely preventable situation. Due to Stonebridge’s failure to take adequate security measures, or to give residents adequate warnings about other attacks which had occurred on the path, Nathan Polite will never walk normally again or experience a full life. He will never be able to run and play normally with his young daughter Nylasia. Had Nathan been aware that there had been two previous attacks on Stonebridge residents as they traveled the path, Nathan tells us that he would have decided to avoid the path altogether. However, due to Stonebridge’s negligence, a very young man and father has been robbed of his freedom of mobility and can only expect further deterioration of his body as he approaches middle age.

What dollar amount can compensate for that? Nathan will never be normal again. Perhaps the money can be used to make his life as comfortable as possible for his remaining years, and provide for his mother and daughter’s needs, since his employment options are severely limited due to his lack of mobility.
Here at the Tyrone Law Firm, we represent clients all over the state of Georgia and throughout the United States who have been seriously injured and are experiencing life-changing catastrophic consequences through no fault of their own. We are proud to represent crime victims. And we are particularly proud of the work we do on behalf of Nathan and his family. This year alone we have obtained verdicts and settlements in excess of $9.4 Million Dollars on behalf of crime victims in Georgia.
Contact us at 404-377-0017 or via email at admin@tyronelaw.com. We will sit down and meet with you free of charge and if we cannot assist you, we will do our utmost to put you in the hands of attorneys who can.
We look forward to hearing from you and hope to be able to assist you with your case.