Posted on 08/11/2002 9:02:31 PM PDT by texas booster
PROVIDENCE,RI(AP)-A car-leasing company has been ordered by a jury to pay a Pawtucket woman nearly $28 million for injuries suffered in a crash four years ago.
The Superior Court jury last week found Chase Manhattan Automotive Finance Corp., of Florida, liable because the operator of the car that left Judith Oliveira a paraplegic was driving a leased vehicle.
The award may be the largest personal-injury judgment in state history.
Court records indicate Oliveira, formerly of Patterson Avenue, Pawtucket, was awarded $18,904,190 with interest of $9,074,011 for the injuries she suffered.
``We're fairly certain that this is the largest single award in a personal-injury case'' returned by a jury in Rhode Island, said Oliveira's lawyer, Mark Decof, of Providence.
The judgment may be the first time in Rhode Island that a leasing company has been held responsible for the driver's actions in a crash involving a leased car.
``That is scary,'' said Frank Doyle, senior vice president of AAA of Providence. ``That puts a whole new risk in the automotive financing world.''
Doyle told The Providence Sunday Journal that the leasing company's liability would not be any different than a plaintiff filing suit against a bank that provided a car loan.
Lawyer James Murphy, who represented Chase Manhattan, said he is looking into filing post-trial motions and possible appeals.
The judgment follows an April Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling that short-term rental agencies, long-term leasing companies and car financing corporations are subject to liability because they own the cars.
The high court reversed an earlier ruling from Superior Court Judge Patricia A. Hurst, who said that state law protected car-financing companies from the Rhode Island's ``vicarious-liability statutes.''
The judge said the companies are exempt because the leasing firms don't take possession and control of the cars. The Supreme Court disagreed and vacated the lower court's judgment against Chase Manhattan and a second leasing company. That led to Oliveira's recent civil trial, over which Hurst presided.
Oliveira was 48 on the night of the accident on July 23, 1998. She was sitting in her Subaru, parked near the corner of Ernest Street and Eddy Street in Providence. About 11:25 p.m., a red Acura, driven by Steven Lombardi, 20, of Cranston, crashed into the back of Oliveira's car.
Court records note Lombardi was traveling at a high rate of speed. The collision caused the car to explode and become engulfed in flames.
Witness Brian Hodson pulled Oliveira from the burning car.
Oliveira later sued Lombardi and Chase Manhattan, the car-leasing company. Court records show that the car had been leased to Lombardi's father, Salvatore Lombardi.
On June 10 of this year Salvatore Lombardi and Steven Lombardi filed for bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy courts in Rhode Island and Florida. The Lombardis were dropped from the lawsuit. Lombardi was insured by two companies, Decof said: Amica Insurance Co. and Merrimac Fire and Marine Insurance Co.
Before the trial, the two insurance companies agreed to pay the full amount of their coverage of Lombardi, which totaled $1.3 million between them.
That left Chase Manhattan the sole defendant in the lawsuit.
Oliveira, who uses a wheelchair, testified. Decof, her lawyer, said Oliveira has been forced to live at Eleanor Slater Hospital, in Burrillville, for the past two years because she could not care for herself.
She plans to have a house built that will accommodate her disabilities.
Wonder what this will do to rates and insurability if it stands? Any insurance agents out there?
Left off the copyright notice. My apologies.
There is no end to the surprises from a jury trial, is there?
Also, what interest rate did the judge use to compute $9,000,000 worth of interest? that works out to over 10% per year. Maybe he charged Chase with the same rate that the leasor was paying them.
Lawyers love public school educated juries and plaintiffs in wheelchairs. The plaintiff's misdeed: owning assets.
To survive the lawyer mafia try not to own stuff.
This crap is going too far - Bring back personal responsibilty...
The interest was exactly 48% of the damages. It looks like 12% simple interest (not compound interest) for 4 years. I don't think lawyers and judges understand compound interest.
What I'd like to know is who paid for the 12 lobotomies given to the jury?
Life sucks, but you shouldn't be able take down a leasing company just because the breaks didn't go your way. The leasing company did not operate in bad faith.
This case is an example of the classic "go after the deepest pockets, regardless of guilt or innocence" strategy. Simply trot out the wheelchair-bound plaintiff to the stand, make sure she breaks down a couple of times, and start counting the money.
Your post seems to suggest that anyone who is injured is automatically entitled to some sort of monetary compensation. In this case, the $1.3 million of the Lombardi's insurance money wasn't nearly enough, so another source of money had to be found. This crap happens all the time. Lawyers are trained to go after the deepest pockets regardless of what the law actually says. All it takes is 12 stupid people.
As far as the driver being a "clear safety risk", drivers all across the country have their first traffic accidents daily. I don't know that Lombardi's driving record was mentioned in the article, but this accident could just as easily been caused by someone with a perfect driving record. Is the leasing company somehow less liable if that was the case?
If you actually think this award was proper, I doubt that you have much company. Just remember this case the next time you rent a car and wonder about what caused the price increase. If this decision is allowed to stand, it will spread to the bank that provided the auto loan to the next driver who causes an injury accident. Heck, why not the dealer who sold the car? Or the gas station where the guy filled up?
Perhaps we won't get tort reform until the media decides to do its job in a responsible manner and honestly show the americans how these rulings affect our nation in a negative manner.
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