PREMISES LIABILITY. $______ RECOVERY - PREMISES LIABILITY - NEGLIGENT MAINTENANCE - MINORPLAINTIFF'S SNEAKER BECOMES CAUGHT IN ESCALATOR AS IT NEARS TOP CAUSINGHER FOOT TO BECOME MANGLED BY COMB PLATE MECHANISM - INFANT PLAINTIFFREQUIRES A TOTAL OF 22 SURGERIES, INCLUDING MUSCLE TRANSPOSITION FROMLOWER BACK AND SKIN GRAFTS FROM BOTH THIGHS.

• Pages: 26-27

REFERENCE

Victoria Schnaufer vs. Helen Knudsen. Case no. CV14-

6046829-S, 09-28-16.

Attorney for plaintiff: Ron Etemi of Trantolo &

Trantolo in Waterbury, CT.

$1,400,000 GROSS VERDICT INCLUDING $1,000,000 IN PUNITIVE DAMAGES -

NEGLIGENT LANE CHANGE - AUTO/TRACTOR TRAILER COLLISION - NEGLIGENT

HIRING, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION OF DRIVER - BULGING LUMBAR DISC -

AGGRAVATION OF PREEXISTING CONDITION - 10% COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE

FOUND.

Duval County, FL

This action arose out of an auto/tractor-trailer

collision which occurred on Interstate 10 in

Jacksonville, FL. The female plaintiff, age 37,

alleged that the tractor-trailer, driven by the

defendant truck driver and owned by the co-

defendant trucking company, negligently changed

lanes forcing her vehicle into the guardrail. The

plaintiff asserted claims of negligent hiring,

employment, supervision, training, retention,

dispatch and entrustment (of the defendant truck

driver) on the part of the defendant trucking

corporation. Specifically, the plaintiff contended

that the defendant driver was fatigued, exceeded

the maximum driving hours allowed under federal

law, and that the defendant trucking company

failed to maintain records of his duty status. She

also alleged that the defendant trucking company

failed to conduct an adequate background check

for the defendant driver to discover his alleged

dangerous driving record and criminal history. On

damages, the plaintiff claimed that she sustained

an aggravation of a pre-existing lumbar

condition, including a bulging lumbar disc, as well

as new lumbar injuries. The plaintiff underwent

facet joint injections, as well as radio frequency

rhizotomy involving deadening the nerves around

the facet joints. She complained of continuing

pain and limitation of physical activities. The

plaintiff sought punitive damages based on the

defendant trucking company’s gross negligence.

The defendants argued that the plaintiff was

comparatively negligent in failing to maintain a

proper lookout and disputed her alleged injuries.

The plaintiff countered that when the defendant

truck driver negligently changed lanes, the truck

struck her vehicle, rode it into the left guardrail,

and then kept driving. An independent eyewitness

followed the tractor-trailer and obtained its

identification.

The jury found the defendant truck driver 15% negligent;

the defendant trucking company 75% negligent, and

the plaintiff 10% comparatively negligent. The plaintiff

was awarded $400,000 in gross compensatory dam-

ages, reduced accordingly. The jury declined to award

future pain and suffering damages and also declined to

award damages to the plaintiff’s husband for loss of

consortium. The jury determined that punitive damages

were warranted against the defendant trucking corpora-

tion (but not the defendant truck driver). In the second

phase of trial, the jury awarded the plaintiff $1,000,000

in punitive damages, for a total gross verdict of

$1,400,000. The defendants’ motions to set aside negli-

gence as to defendant trucking company; new trial;

remittitur as to punitive damages and collateral source

(PIP) set-off are pending. The plaintiff has filed post-trial

motions to set aside the comparative negligence

finding; and additur for future pain and suffering.

REFERENCE

Copeland vs. Jones, et al. Case no. 2011-CA-006645;

Judge Thomas Beverly, 08-25-16.

Attorneys for plaintiff: Curry Pajcic, Robert Link and

Michael Pajcic of Pajcic & Pajcic in Jacksonville, FL.

PREMISES LIABILITY

$15,000,000 RECOVERY - PREMISES LIABILITY - NEGLIGENT MAINTENANCE - MINOR

PLAINTIFF’S SNEAKER BECOMES CAUGHT IN ESCALATOR AS IT NEARS TOP CAUSING

HER FOOT TO BECOME MANGLED BY COMB PLATE MECHANISM - INFANT PLAINTIFF

REQUIRES A TOTAL OF 22 SURGERIES, INCLUDING MUSCLE TRANSPOSITION FROM

LOWER BACK AND SKIN GRAFTS FROM BOTH THIGHS.

U.S. District Court, Newark, N.J.

This action involved a then ten-year-old female

infant plaintiff who was nearing the top of the

defendant department store’s escalator when her

sneaker and foot became caught and continued

upward into the comb plate mechanism at the top

of the escalator causing severely injured. The

plaintiff also named the escalator maintenance

company which regularly serviced the escalator as

a defendant. The plaintiff maintained that the

escalator was inherently dangerous pointing to

more than ten prior incidents in which people’s

26 SUPPLEMENTAL VERDICT DIGEST

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