Jury deliberating in O'Donnell parking structure case



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Who is at fault for the 2010 tragedy at the O'Donnell parking structure -- and who should pay, and how much? Those are just a few of the questions a jury has to answer as it discusses the June 24th, 2010 incident in which a 15-year-old boy was crushed to death.

The jury began deliberations on Wednesday morning, November 20th.

The jury listened to the case for five-and-a-half weeks, and must determine whether Advance Cast Stone, the company that installed the huge concrete panels on the O'Donnell parking garage to blame for one of them falling off the structure, killing Jared Kellner.

When the 13.5-ton concrete panel fell, it crushed Kellner to death, and injured Kellner's 15-year-old friend, Eric Wosinski and Wosinski's mother, Amy, who had to have a leg amputated as a result of the incident.

Advance Cast Stone installed the panels in 1991, and Milwaukee County was to maintain them.

Advance Cast Stone says it could have been weather, a lack of maintenance or vehicles hitting the structure that caused a 13.5-ton concrete panel to fall back in 2010.

The jury could make an award of more than $100 million in the case.

The jury has a special verdict form in this case, and has 30 questions to answer -- such as how much money Kellner's family should be compensated, whether Advance Cast Stone intentionally concealed a deficiency or defect in the panel installation at O'Donnell, and whether the company misrepresented that deficiency.

There are blank lines for money amounts awarded attached to several questions.

In a civil trial, the answer to each question needs a majority of 10 out of 12 jurors agreeing before it's a verdict.

The jury came up with some questions for the judge on Wednesday, ranging from typos in the questions to what the cap is on some of the monetary awards.