Cook County, IL, September 19, 2025—National insurance defense firm Tyson & Mendes, LLP announced today a pretrial victory for the defense in a high-stakes case in a jurisdiction known for Nuclear Verdicts®, with a judge granting a motion for summary judgment for the firm’s client, a national real estate management services company.

Plaintiff entered a medical facility managed by the client during an active fire drill. As plaintiff was entering the facility from the attached parking garage, an overhead rolling fire door triggered by the alarm descended from the ceiling and struck plaintiff on the head. Plaintiff had a complicated pre-incident medical history and claimed a traumatic brain injury which resulted in cognitive decline that forced her to give up her law practice. In addition to the firm’s client, plaintiff sued the door manufacturer, the door installer/maintenance company, and the owner of the building.

The allegations in the complaint focused primarily on the design, installation, function, lack of safety features and maintenance of the door. Plaintiff failed to disclose any liability experts in the case. Mark Shanberg, Partner, filed the motion for summary judgment based upon the lack of any legal duty owed to the plaintiff and the lack of any genuine issue of material fact concerning the client’s responsibility for the subject door.

“Based upon arguments focused on responsibility, reasonableness and common sense, we were able to convince the judge that, as a matter of law, our client owed no legal duty to the plaintiff and was therefore entitled to be dismissed from the case,” said Shanberg. In fact, the client satisfied any maintenance duty concerning the door by contracting with the door maintenance company who performed its required annual door inspection three weeks before the incident.

The judge agreed with Tyson & Mendes’ defense team’s themes and arguments and entered the order dismissing the client from the case that plaintiff’s counsel postured was going to be a “seven-figure case.”

About Tyson & Mendes LLP 

Tyson & Mendes LLP is a nationwide, AV-rated litigation and trial firm specializing in insurance defense and protecting its clients from Nuclear Verdicts®. Founded in 2002 by Robert Tyson and Patrick Mendes, the firm has experienced tremendous growth, with offices across the United States. Tyson & Mendes is known for its expertise in defending corporations, insurance companies, and their clients against Nuclear Verdicts®.

Serving 21 states nationwide, Tyson & Mendes is one of the fastest-growing civil defense firms in the U.S. and is proud to offer one of the fastest and clearest paths to partnership for its attorneys of any mid-sized law firm in the U.S. The firm is honored to be recognized as a 2024 Best Law Firm by Best Lawyers, named a 2024 Best Company to Work For: Law Firms edition by U.S. News & World Report, awarded the 2023 Liberty Mutual Insurance External Law Firm Partner of the Year Award, awarded the No. 1 “Ceiling Smasher” in Law360’s 2022 Glass Ceiling Report for female equity partnership, and shortlisted for Financial Times’ 2022 Innovative Lawyers North America Award.

For more information, visit www.tysonmendes.com.

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