$21M injury verdict may be record
Toolbox
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: September 1, 2007
MONTPELIER — A young man who will likely spend the rest of his life as a quadriplegic after a car accident in Woodstock has won one of the largest lawsuit awards in the history of the state.
It will be some time before it is clear how much of the $21 million in medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering he was awarded will ever be collected.
Ralph Currier, now 21, was riding in a car driven at more than 100 miles-per-hour by Woodstock resident Taylor Quinn in Sept. of 2005 when she drove off the road, hit a fence and a propane tank and slammed into a house and veterinary clinic, according to court documents and prosecutors. Currier, a passenger in the car, was seriously and permanently injured and his parents have to help him with nearly every aspect of his daily life, including putting in catheters several times a day.
"Virtually all of his basic needs must be met by others," Judge Theresa DiMauro wrote in her decision issued Friday.
Nearly $1 million of the amount is owed to cover past medical care for Currier, who once planned on being a car mechanic like his father and brother. Another $15 million is the estimated amount it will require for his future medical care.
Another nearly $1 million was for projected future wages Currier will not earn, while $5 million was ruled by the judge the appropriate amount to pay for his pain and suffering.
"The daily physical pain he experiences is regulated by several prescription medications, including Percocet and Oxycontin. The emotional pain cannot be controlled by medication. This previously robust, able-bodied 18-year-old is now confined to a wheelchair," DiMauro wrote in her decision.
"This is indicative of what future medical care will be for this young man, close to $15 million," said John Campbell, Currier's lawyer. "We are also talking about a young man who always wanted to have a family. That is not going to happen without taking extraordinary measures."
The case was broght against Suzanne Schipper, the mother of driver Taylor Quinn, for "negligent entrustment" of the vehicle to her daughter.
Quinn was also charged criminally after the accident and served 10 months in prison with four to 10 years suspended for gross negligent operation of a vehicle with serious bodily injury resulting, Sand said. Quinn was returned to prison for 25 days this year after she violated the conditions of her release from prison, he added.
"Her car ended up in the living room of a home, having traveled well in excess of 100 miles an hour," Windsor County State's Attorney Robert Sand said. "She turned her car into a rocket and launched it into a house."
"That is a huge verdict, but this was an extraordinarily reckless act," he said.
Robert Reis, the Rutland defense attorney in the case, did not return calls to his office Friday.
The Curriers, who after the accident added a room to their house for the specialized equipment and bed that their son needs, live near the border of Woodstock and Bridgewater. He left school after 10th grade and was working doing maintenance and lawn work at the time of the accident, according to court records.
The award in the case may well be the largest of its kind in the history of Vermont's courts.
"Certainly in terms of contested verdicts it is the biggest I am aware of," said Will Hunter, editor and publisher of the Vermont Lawyer and Trial Court Reporter newsletter. "It's bigger than any jury verdict I am aware of."
Hunter pointed out, as did Campbell, that the amount of money Currier eventually gets is likely to be far less than the $21 million Judge DiMauro said he is owed. That is because it depends on insurance coverage and other factors not part of the consideration when the impact of the accident on Currier was weighed.
"You have to sort of calculate, assuming that conditions stay as they are, how he is going to take care of himself," said Joan Vogel, a professor at Vermont Law School. "His medical bills alone are huge. He has to have someone taking care of him for the rest of his life."
"This is at the high end, but the injuries are also very extreme here," she said. "It seemed to me a very carefully reasoned opinion."
The judge did not allow all medical or other claims requested by Currier and his lawyers, Vogel said. "She went very carefully through all of this."
And it should be remembered that, even in the unlikely event that he collected all $21 million, Currier would undoubtedly much prefer to have his old life back, Vogel said.
"His life as he knew it is over. That life he can't live anymore," she said. "This is really an inadequate alternative."
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