Page 21 - Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame

#11
By Len Maniace
A landscape worker who lost a leg after he was pinned between his company’s trailer and a moving car in Tarrytown was awarded $11.2 million by a Westchester jury.
Robert Loja, then 35, was unloading a trailer owned by Sleepy Hollow Landscaping on Benedict Avenue on Oct. 24, 2008, when a car driven by Eileen P. Lavelle struck him.
Loja whose legs were crushed eventually was out tted with a pros- thetic right leg following amputation. A medical expert for Loja said he was likely to need the replacement of his left knee in the future. The injuries left Loja reliant on a cane and incapable of physical labor.
As a result Loja sued Lavelle and the car’s owner, Kathryn Lavelle, for damages. His attorney Jonathan Rice of Grant and Longworth
#12
LLP of Dobbs Ferry said the defendants were negligent.
The defendants, however, charged that Loja and Sleepy Hollow Landscaping had been responsible for the incident. Eileen Lavelle said the sun blinded her as she drove toward the landscaper’s trailer. They charged Loja was unloading the trailer in a dangerous area on a two-lane road and that Sleepy Hollow Landscaping had failed to provide him with adequate safety training.
One defense witness said safety precautions were not adequate and that he came upon the trailer so suddenly that he needed to slam his vehicle’s brakes, triggering a rear-end collision with the vehicle behind him. Sleepy Hollow Landscaping’s attorney maintained that Loja was adequately trained, but that it was his decision to park in that location rather than a safer spot.
Rice, Loja’s attorney, said the landscaping company bore the lion’s share of the fault. “The employer directed the plaintiff and his co- workers how to perform the job, where to park and to essentially use improper equipment and to set up a work zone in violation of acceptable standards.”
In January 2012, the jury found apportioned the blame as follows: Sleepy Hollow Landscaping was assigned 60 percent; Eileen Lavelle and Kathryn Lavelle, 10 percent, and Loja, 30 percent. The jury put Loja’s damages at $11.2 million but reduced the award by 30 percent because of his negligence, resulting in a net recovery of $7.8 million.
Hardie and Timmons died at the scene. According to news reports, Timmins was decapitated in the accident. Henderson sustained injuries of an arm, his back, elbow, foot, pelvis and several toes. Moise suffered injuries to his back, knee and neck.
Auvryn Scarlett, the garbage truck driver, had suffered a seizure and admitted that he stopped taking his anti-seizure medications that had been prescribed to control his convulsions. Scarlett was arrested after the horri c accident and ultimately convicted of assault and second- degree murder.
In separate lawsuits, the plaintiffs sued Scarlett and Scarlett’s employer, Action Carting Environmental Services Inc. The suits alleged that Scarlett was negligent in the operation of his vehicle, Action Carting was liable because the accident occurred within the course of Scarlett’s work duties, and that the rm was negligent in its hiring and employment of Scarlett. The multiple lawsuits were eventually combined into a single suit.
Plaintiffs’ counsel argued that Scarlett’s history of seizures proved that he was un t to operate a truck. They produced prior employment records that documented Scarlett’s termination from a different driv- ing job after experiencing a seizure. The plaintiff’s counsel proved that Action Carting failed to obtain those records or conduct an adequate investigation of Scarlett’s medical and employment background.
The parties negotiated pre-trial settlements. Timmons’ share totaled $5 million; Hardie’s estate’s share totaled $4 million; Henderson’s share totaled $1.5 million; and Moise’s share was not disclosed to the press or to post-trial verdict databases.
Case: Loja v. Lavelle and Lavelle Attorney: Jonathan Rice
Firm: GrantandLongworthLLP Verdict: $11,000,000
Case: Henderson v. Action Carting Environmental Services Attorney: Daniel P. O’Toole and Frederick C. Aranki &
Kenneth P. Nolan, Jeanne M. O’Grady & Scott
Messinger & Andrew Park
Firms: Block O’Toole & Murphy, LLP/Speiser, Krause, Nolan,
& Granito/Gladstein & Messinger/Sim & Park LLP Settlement: $10,500,000
By Phil Albinus
A truck driver with a history of seizures stops taking his meds. A new couple visit New York on a romantic getaway from the UK. An innocent bystander minds his own business. A middle-aged man sits in his car.
These were all the elements of an unfathomable events that took place on February 12, 2008 when plaintiffs Abayomi Henderson, a retail store’s clerk, and Andrew Hardie and Jacqueline Timmins, a couple in town from England, were struck by a truck. The incident took place on a sidewalk of West 35th Street in midtown Manhattan. The truck also struck a lamppost, which fell onto a parked vehicle that was occupied by plaintiff Gene Moise, aged 52.
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