A. One hundred percent. You try this case ten times you would get ten defense verdicts. Fortunately for me, the plaintiff was not paralyzed. He had a spinal cord injury, but he was very lucky and was able to regain almost all function. I had a homeowner as a defendant.
Lets face it, the parties that the jury sees before it is a big factor.
You have a guy who is not the most sympathetic plaintiff against a homeowner. That's a good factual setting for the defendant. Now if you had a quadriplegic against a pool manufacturer that represents a whole different dynamic in a jury trial. Even still, given these facts, he had been in the pool before. He was an experienced swimmer and he had actually attempted the exact same dive before.