Stutman Law’s insured purchased a vacant, 70 year-old industrial/warehouse facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, intending to lease it to a third party. Unfortunately, before any lease could be executed, a 75-ton crane being operated on a neighboring property tipped over and significantly damaged the building. Stutman Law’s investigation established that the crane tipped due to the negligence of an unqualified operator. While establishing liability for the accident was fairly straightforward, Stutman Law had to aggressively advocate for its client with respect to the amount of damages recoverable. The crane operator’s insurer argued that the cost of repairing the building was excessive given that it was old and vacant. Armed with relevant legal research regarding the proper measure of damages in North Carolina, Stutman Law persuaded the adverse carrier that the crane operator was legally required to pay the cost of repairing the building so long as the cost was less than the fair market value of the property at the time of the incident. Ultimately, the adverse carrier acquiesced and paid 100% of our client’s damages in addition to the insured’s substantial deductible.