A verdict in the amount of $5.9 million dollars was reached today in favor of a 32 year-old woman against a vending company defendant.  The Defendant had hired a crane to remove a pool table from the second floor of a bar.  To prepared for the move, a portion of a fire escape rail was removed and tied back with a section of clothesline.  Three years later, the plaintiff, attending a party at the bar, was on the fire escape landing and was shoved into the tied-on railing when a door was opened.  The railing gave way and the woman fell 15 feet onto the concrete below.  She suffered a severe spinal cord injury. The jury awarded $381,228.00 in past medical costs, $2,532,775.00 in future medical costs, $26,875.00 in lost wages, and $2,971,750.00 in pain and suffering (non-economic) damages.  The trial was presided over by Judge Evelyn Omega Cannon in Baltimore City Circuit Court.  The law firm of Fick & May represented the plaintiff. It is likely that the defendant will seek to reduce the portion of the verdict awarded for pain and suffering to comply with the maximum amount allowable for non-economic damages permitted under Maryland law, known as the "cap".