Hersh v. Kentfield Builders, Inc.

This is an appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeals 1 which overturned a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff, Melvin R. Hersh against defendant Kentfield Builders, Inc. 2

The facts giving rise to the suit are as follows.

Plaintiff, Melvin Hersh, a kitchen cabinet salesman, went to one of defendant Kentfield Builders, Inc.’s model homes to keep a business appointment with defendant’s president, Norman Steel.

While waiting for Steel, Hersh was seriously injured in an unprovoked attack by one Benton Hutchinson, a casual laborer employed by defendant to do clean-up work and odd jobs around the…