Jury Awards $85,000 For Plaintiff's Pain and Loss of Active Lifestyle
by
Joseph C. Maya on Apr. 12, 2017
Accident & Injury Accident & Injury Car Accident Accident & Injury Personal Injury
Summary: Blog post about an award of damages for pain and loss of lifestyle resulting from a car accident.
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The award of $85,000 in noneconomic damages was not excessive, where the injured party's knee was permanently injured, forcing the injured party to give up her active lifestyle and to live with pain forever.
The plaintiff claimed she suffered injuries to her knee, resulting from an incident in which she was a pedestrian when she was struck by a vehicle driven by the defendant. The defendant contends that the verdict is excessive in view of Jameson’s medical evidence. According to testimony from trial, the defendant’s knee was actually stable, and its future conditions were uncertain. The total award was “clearly excessive” where the respective economic damages were $16,956.37. The court upheld the original jury award. Expert testimony states that the plaintiff had seen multiple doctors, and had undergone surgery in treatment of her knee. The plaintiff’s surgeon, Dr. Murray, testified that during surgery he found that he knee suffered a tear in the medial femoral condoyle. In other words, the cartilage on the end of the bone was torn, “kind of like the skin of an orange peeling of an orange.” There is no cure for this significant and painful injury. In addition, he testified that there was no possibility that her condition would ever improve. In respect to this information, the jury’s award was reasonable, in that it considered the cost of pain and suffering for the plaintiff’s remaining 40 year life expectancy, as well as her inability to pursue the once active lifestyle she originally enjoyed.
At Maya Murphy, P.C., our personal injury attorneys are dedicated to achieving the best results for individuals and their family members and loved ones whose daily lives have been disrupted by injury, whether caused by a motor vehicle or pedestrian accident, a slip and fall, medical malpractice, a defective product, or otherwise. Our attorneys are not afraid to aggressively pursue and litigate cases and have extensive experience litigating personal injury matters in both state and federal courts, and always with regard to the unique circumstances of our client and the injury he or she has sustained.
Source: Jameson v. Swearengan, 2003 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2005 (Conn. Super. Ct 2003).
