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Mecklenburg County has settled a lawsuit with an Indian Trail man, agreeing to pay him $170,000 after he was seriously injured during a May 23, 2010 function at Jetton Park in Cornelius.
At the event, Arjan Jagtiani was sent to a nearby hospital after a stack of chairs toppled on him, county attorney Marvin Bethune said Tuesday.
The county, Bethune said, agreed to pay the settlement during mediation, but stipulated that the payment is not an admission of county liability. Mecklenburg commissioners, who approved the payment, will get a report about the Dec. 5 settlement tonight at its regular meeting.
Jagtiani was with a group that had rented the park's Waterfront Hall. As the plastic and metal chairs were being moved, they toppled over and fell on Jagtiani, Bethune said.
Jagtiani and his lawyers couldn't be reached Tuesday.
The settlement avoids a potentially more costly trial, he said.
"Sometimes you settle cases that you don't think you're at fault, but you know it could cost the county a lot of money to defend and it could get to a jury," he said. "We agreed that instead of going to trial that the county should pay him some money.
"The case has been settled already and the money's been paid."
