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| October 13, 2008 |
By: Review staff & VerdictSearch |
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Case: Angel Del Valle, Raquel Ibarra Mora, co-administrators of the estate of Milena Del Valle v. Newman Renner Colony et al
Case No.: 06-3654
Description: Wrongful death and negligence
Filing date: Aug. 29, 2006
Settlement date: Sept. 29, 2008
Judge: Stephen E. Neel, Superior Court, Suffolk County, Mass.
Plaintiff attorneys: Mario Garcia, Garcia Law Offices, Miami; Leo Boyle, Brad Henry and Michael Bogdanow, Meehan Boyle Black & Bogdanow, Miami; Jeffrey Denner, Denner Pellegrino, Boston.
Defense attorneys: John Connolly, Peabody & Arnold, Boston; John Graceffa, Morrison Mahoney, Boston
Settlement: $28.1 million
Details: The lawsuit resulted from a highly publicized accident in Boston’s Big Dig tunnel project, which at $15 billion was considered the most expensive public works project in U.S. history at the time.
The series of downtown tunnels and highway ramps was started in 1991, and most of the project was in use by early 2006.
On July 10, 2006, part of the I-90 connector tunnel ceiling — four slabs weighing up to 3 tons each — broke loose, and one crushed a car.
Milena Del Valle of Boston was riding with her husband Angel Del Valle when their 1991 Buick sedan was nearly flattened.
The husband crawled out through a 12-inch opening in the driver’s side window. His 38-year-old wife died.
A year later, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report saying “epoxy creep,” a phenomenon that causes a short-term chemical fastener to eventually fail, contributed to the accident, and contractors used an epoxy that wasn’t designed for long-term applications.
The NTSB said project supervisors failed to implement an inspection program to check for wear.
Some defendants in the family’s civil suit, including project manager Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, agreed to a $458 million settlement in January with the state and federal government to avoid criminal charges.
Del Valle’s survivors filed suit the month after she died, naming 15 defendants in the Big Dig management consortium, including the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, San Francisco-based Bechtel and Plymouth, Mass.-based Newman Renner Colony, distributor of the epoxy and bolts anchoring the massive ceiling panels.
The suit was filed on behalf of Milena del Valle’s daughter, Raquel Ibarra Mora, and sons Kaleb Ibarra Mora and Jeremy Ibarra Mora, who live in Costa Rica with their grandmother, and the widower.
He is slated to receive 44 percent of the settlement. The children will split 56 percent.
Plaintiff case: The family maintained the defendants should have known the epoxy was a short-term glue and could not handle the weight of the concrete that fell and killed Milena Del Valle. The consortium approved design errors, used substandard construction and engineering methods and failed to properly oversee the project after it was finished, the complaint said. Discovery began more than a year ago.
Garcia said he believed the defendants settled because of the strength of the evidence against them.
“If we had taken the case to the jury, we would have reached a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs,” he said. “However, there are always risks when you take a case to trial.”
Some of the settlements were done by teleconference and some in person. Settlement negotiations lasted two days to a week for each defendant.
Defense case: Graceffa, who represented Newman Renner and other defendants, and Connolly, who represented Brewster, N.Y.-based epoxy supplier Powers Fasteners, declined comment. The MTA also declined comment.
Outcome: The defendants settled with the Del Valle family for a total of $28.1 million in exchange for dismissing the case and releasing the defendants from liability. Some of the defendants settled last winter, and the rest resolved their claims last month.
Comments: “Our goal has always been to get to the truth, to find out exactly who was responsible for this tragedy. After almost two years of investigation and litigation, we discovered it,” Garcia said. “Obviously there’s no money that will replace the life of their mother, and hopefully this will prevent it from happening anywhere else.”
The widower “is gratified that the case is over, and is grateful that the parties’ actions are brought into daylight,” said Denner, who represented Angel Del Valle.
The MTA issued an e-mail statement saying: “The tunnel collapse in 2006 was the result of a colossal failure of oversight by past administrations. Since taking control of the Big Dig last year, we have completed a detailed stem to stern review of the project as well as created an inspection program that will ensure that tragic night never happens again. We hope closure has come to the Del Valle family.”
Post settlement: Powers Fasteners pleaded innocent to a criminal manslaughter charge; a hearing is set Oct. 31 on a dismissal motion.
— Billy Shields
Mario Garcia photo by Jill Kahn
Institutional negligence
U.S. District Court, Fort Lauderdale
County settles over inmate murdered during lockdown
The Broward Sheriff’s Office agreed to pay $1.8 million in the beating death of an inmate who was put in the jail’s general population when he was in need of separate quarters and close supervision.
Dana Jones, who was found in his cell in a pool of blood, was beaten by other inmates. It had been determined that he needed to be relocated from general lockdown to a behavioral health unit, but officials failed to do so.
Plaintiff’s counsel maintained the county was on notice since 1994 that the jail was overcrowded, and treatment for special-needs inmates was inadequate.
Case: Jones v. Broward County Sheriff’s Office
Case no.: 0:07-cv-60839
Plaintiff lawyer: Barbara A. Heyer, Heyer & Associates, Fort Lauderdale
Defense lawyer: Gregg A. Toomey, Henderon Franklin Starnes & Holt, Fort Myers
Premises liability
Miami-Dade Circuit Court
Restaurant settles with man who broke wrist in fall
The owner of a Denny’s restaurant agreed to pay $210,000 to a man who fractured his wrist in a fall at his table.
Winslight Baptiste claimed his booth seat tipped up as he got up to leave, sending him to the floor.
The defense denied liability, arguing the booth’s installer and the seat manufacturer were to blame. Over a two-year period, Baptiste underwent two wrist operations on his dominant arm.
Case: Winslight Baptiste v. KS&P Restaurants LLC
Case no.: 07-41496
Plaintiff lawyer: Justin Ziegler, Justin Ziegler P.L., Miami
Defense lawyer: Mitchell H. Katler, Law Office of Robert F. Tacher, Fort Lauderdale
Institutional negligence
Broward Circuit Court
Family recovers for drowning of toddler in pool
The family of a young boy recovered $35,000 for his drowning at his grandmother’s house.
Jahrel Mareus, 21 months old, was found dead in the swimming pool at a home rented to his grandmother and owned by Kevin Smith. The toddler’s family claimed Smith was to blame because locks on a sliding glass door leading to the pool didn’t work. Jahrel’s father claimed he told Smith about the broken locks several months before the accident.
Smith claimed he never noticed the door was in need of repair. Defense counsel argued Jahrel’s mother was to blame because she was on the phone in a front room with poor visibility of the pool. The jury found his mother, grandmother and father 90 percent liable, which reduced the $350,000 award.
Case: Estate of Mareus v. Smith
Case no.: 04004477
Plaintiff lawyer: Paul J. Puzzanghera, Puzzanghera Law Offices, Clearwater
Defense lawyer: Michael J. Lynott and Margot Moss, Fowler White Burnett, Miami
Hillsborough Circuit Court
Girl gashed between eyes by ice skate gets $120,000
A girl who was slashed between the eyes by an ice-skate blade in an ice rink changing room recovered $120,000.
Juliana Pineda, then 6, was at an Oldsmar rink operated by Fun League Group. She was struck by a girl performing a cartwheel with her skates on, causing a U-shaped gash on her forehead.
Plaintiff counsel argued the girls should not have been unsupervised. Pineda’s mother wanted to be there, but she said a rink employee told her no parents were allowed.
The defense argued the mother should have ignored the employee’s instructions. The jury found the mother 25 percent to blame, reducing the $160,000 award.
Case: Pineda v. Fun League Group Inc.
Case no.: 02-11759
Plaintiff lawyer: Robert Herce, Herce & Herce, Tampa
Defense lawyer: Jeffrey M. Adams, Abbey Adams Byelick Kiernan Mueller & Lancaster, St. Petersburg; Joel Lee Sherman, Sherman Law Firm, Tampa
Negligent maintenance
Hardee Circuit Court
Worker awarded after injury operating heavy machinery
A jury awarded $3.1 million to a construction foreman who was injured while operating a Caterpillar motor scraper.
Aaron Cooley, in his 50s, herniated three lumbar discs when the seat collapsed. He sued United Rentals, alleging it didn’t properly maintain the vehicle. Plaintiff’s counsel stated the seat had multiple failures in the past, and it failed an inspection two days before the accident.
Plaintiff counsel argued Cooley will need future surgery. Of the award, Cooley received $899,500 for future medical expenses.
Case: Cooley v. United Rentals Inc.
Case no.: 25-2006CA-000429
Plaintiff lawyers: Kevin B. Woods and Thomas S. Harmon, Davis & Harmon, Tampa
Defense lawyers: Randy R. Dow and Kelly R. Reagan, Page Mrachek Fitzgerald & Rose, West Palm Beach
Motor Vehicle
Orange Circuit Court
Jury awards $15 million to family in fatal collision with drunken driver
A jury awarded $15 million to the family of a woman killed in a head-on crash with an intoxicated man behind the wheel of a Hummer H2.
Heather N. Mobley, 20, was driving on McCormick Road in Orange County when she collided with the truck driven by Javier Trevino, 21. In addition to suing Trevino, Mobley’s family sued his parents for negligent entrustment.
Before closing arguments, Judge George A. Sprinkel issued a directed verdict against the defendants. Of the $15 million, the jury awarded $10 million in punitive damages.
Case: Mobley v. Trevino
Case no.: 06-CA-7908
Plaintiff lawyers: David A. Paul and Jason A. Paul, David A. Paul & Associates, Orlando
Defense lawyers: Dennis R. O’Connor, Cooney Mattson Lance Blackburn Richards & O’Connor, Orlando; James K. Powers, McGee & Powers, Orlando
Medical Malpractice
Pinellas Circuit Court
Heparin-related death results in award for widow
A jury awarded $481,100 to the wife of a man who was killed by his second heart attack, which was blamed on massive blood loss caused by an anticoagulent drug.
Dr. Dipak Mukherjee prescribed heparin to Nicolas Testa, 68, after his first heart attack. He suffered the fatal heart attack a week later. Plaintiff counsel argued the doctor didn’t promptly detect signs of Testa’s plummeting hemoglobin. He lost nearly two-thirds of his body’s blood volume before Mukherjee ordered rapid transfusions.
Defense counsel argued his heart attack was a result of blockage, not blood loss, and there was no evidence of internal bleeding. Defense counsel also argued the patient had several serious medical conditions.
Case: Testa v. Mukherjee
Case no.: 02-8500 CI 11
Plaintiff lawyers: Richard A. Gilbert and Daniel J. McBreen, de la Parte & Gilbert, Tampa
Defense lawyer: Kenneth C . Deacon Jr., Deacon & Moulds, St. Petersburg
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