Jury Sides With Defense, Awards Nothing to Motorist Who Was Rear-Ended in Bad Weather
New Haven Superior Court. Courtesy photo
A New Haven jury has sided with the defense in a case in which a Meriden man said he suffered serious injuries after the vehicle he was driving was rear-ended in December 2013.
After deliberating for only 25 minutes on Dec. 4 in New Haven Superior Court, the six-person jury announced it would not award monetary damages to Michael Mattesini, whose attorneys' last demand was $110,000 before trial.
Larry Adler, attorney for defendant Dale Sokolowski, said it was not in dispute that his client's 1987 Ford plow truck rear-ended Mattesini's 2007 Chevrolet on Columbia Street in Meriden. But, Adler, owner of the East Hartford-based Adler Law Group, said there were several arguments he made that he believe swayed the jury. Sokolowski died before trial at age 61 of issues unrelated to the collision, Adler said.
Among the arguments put forth by Adler was that for the jury to find his client negligent, it also had to determine his conduct was unreasonable for the circumstances presented at the time — an unlikely conclusion, according to the defense.
"We believe that not only was it dark and snowing, but that there was concealed ice under the truck," Adler argued.
In addition, Alder said, "The police officer at the scene testified that there were many accidents in the town that night and he'd personally investigated five. He even said he slipped when he got out of the car."
Another factor in the jury's decision, Adler believes, was that Mattesini "exaggerated many of the injuries," primarily to his lower back, neck, left knee and right shoulder. "He was inconsistent on the stand. His deposition and medical records showed something different from some of his testimony," Adler said.
"We were able to show that most of the injuries were resolved or were the result of injuries not related to the car accident," Adler said Friday. A bone of contention during the four-day trial, Adler said, was related to Mattesini's lower back.
Michael Kaplan, an orthopedic surgeon and plaintiff expert, "acknowledged the plaintiff had a prior history of back problems," Adler said. "He also said he had a 15 percent permanency impairment to his back and that a predominant share was from the accident."
That claim was countered by Scott Organ, a Bristol-based orthopedic surgeon and defense expert.
"Mr. Organ has the plaintiff's entire medical file and from that he said he could never get to a 15 percent permanency impairment, accident or no accident," Adler said. In addition, Adler said, an MRI taken before the accident and one taken after the accident showed "no traumatic change to the back."
Adler said a motion was filed by plaintiff attorney Cheryl Heffernan of the Hamden-based Farver & Heffernan Thursday to set aside the verdict. The motion claims there was insufficient evidence for the jury to reach its finding that there was no negligence on the part of Sokolowski.
The April 2016 lawsuit that was filed by Heffernan claimed the collision was due "to the negligence and carelessness of the defendant."
Heffernan declined to comment on the matter Friday.
