Back in 2018, real estate photographer Whitney Morris was shot by a homeowner while photographing that person's property for the real estate company that commissioned him.
Photo by Colin Lloyd
As it turns out, the company that commissioned him failed to inform the homeowner of Morris’ appointment to take pictures of the home.
When he opened the lockbox containing the home’s keys, this triggered the home’s alarm and the homeowner then shot him three times through a door. His injuries necessitated major surgery and were quite debilitating.
A GoFundMe was even set up to help Morris out. Morris sued the homeowner and the real-estate company that commissioned him. The real-estate company’s counsel responded aggressively, saying in their response that Morris “conducted himself more like a bungling thief than a so-called ‘professional’ photographer” and was the “victim of his own stupidity.”
The company’s counsel concluded that Morris was “in a word: braindead.” This is despite Morris’ ability to prove that the real-estate firm failed to notify the homeowner that he was coming. The appeals court reinstated the lawsuit, ruling that the suit was thrown out because, “REEA and Cousineau did not actually argue that there was a lack of evidence to support Morris’s claims, and instead solely focused on the argument that Morris was precluded from presenting evidence that would contradict their responses to his requests for admission.”
While none of this guarantees that Morris will see any justice in court, it does at least give his case the chance to be heard in full.
What do you think of the appeals court’s decision in this case? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments section below.
Did you see our story about the Supreme Court protecting states from lawsuits in copyright cases? You can read that here.
Don’t forget to check out some of our other interesting photography news stories on Light Stalking by clicking here.
[PetaPixel]
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