Softball legal pitch - Journal Inquirer: Page One Lawsuit filed by Attorney Jason L. McCoy

Softball legal pitch - Journal Inquirer: Page One 

"VERNON — A  Glastonbury man has filed a lawsuit against the town in response to a  2012 incident during which someone from an opposing softball team threw a bat at him, causing permanent injury.



The man, Jeffrey Harrington of 377 Woodhaven Road, says the person who threw the baseball
bat at him had violated the town’s softball league rules on several
previous occasions and that the town was negligent and careless in neglecting to prevent the accident, the lawsuit states.



According to the filing, the incident occurred in July 2012 during a men’s softball league game at a town-owned field at 375 Hartford Turnpike.

The person who threw the bat was Somers residentJonathan Feigenbaum, who later was charged with second-degree assaultand first-degree reckless endangerment.

Harrington contends that during the gameFeigenbaum engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct and used profane language —behavior he had previously exhibited.


The Glastonbury man, who was catching during thegame, says Feigenbaum became upset with the outcome of a play, slammed a metal bat on the plate, and then flung it backwards. It struck Harrington in the throat, the filing states.


The Town was named in the lawsuit that was filed late lastmonth are the town clerk. Representing Harrington is former Vernon mayor Jason L. McCoy.



McCoy argues the town “knew or should have known” of Feigenbaum’s violations and did not eject, expel, or discipline theplayer before the incident during which Harrington was injured.


The bat “crushed” Harrington’s trachea — nearlycausing him to choke to death — and also resulted in scaring anddisfigurement, the filing states.


Among other reasons, McCoy states that thenegligence was caused by the town failing to provide adequate supervision, failing to enforce its own rules, failing to provide“wholesome recreational activities for individuals,” and failing topromote good sportsmanship. He also states that town staff failed to eject, expel, or suspend Feigenbaum following previous incidents.



As a result of the incident, Harrington hassevere injuries, some of which may be permanent.   Harrington “has endured and will continue to endure great mental and physical pain and suffering and may forever be restricted in activities of daily living,”  the filing states.

Because of the injuries to his neck, throat, and voice box, Harrington has had to spend “large sums of money” for medical and surgical treatment, medicine, therapy, and other items, according to the claim.



Harrington also has lost time and wages since his “earning capacity has been greatly diminished, impaired, and reduced,” McCoy says.He’s seeking money in excess of $15,000 to cover lost and future expenses.


According to the town’s rules and regulationsgoverning the Vernon men’s softball league for 2012, “unsportsmanlike conduct will not be tolerated” and any player engaging in poor behavior will be suspended or expelled from the league. It further states that “any act of aggression with intent to physically harm another person” will result in suspension or expulsion.


Online court records show that Feigenbaum was sentenced by a Vernon Superior Court judge to six months in jailsuspended after 18 months of probation stemming from an August 2013
incident during which he was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol."

Jury Verdict - Pedestrian Nets $112,500 After Intersection Accident - Attorney Jason McCoy - Connecticut

Pedestrian Nets $112,500 After Intersection Accident - Jury Verdict- Attorney Jason McCoy

CHRISTIAN NOLAN

The Connecticut Law Tribune

05-10-2013

"James Bonomo v. State of Connecticut: A man who was hit by a car while walking across a New Britain intersection in early evening darkness was recently awarded $150,000 by a jury, though the verdict was reduced by 25 percent for comparative negligence.

James Bonomo, then 20, of New Britain, went to a corner store with his 16-year-old sister, Querida, on December 18, 2008 at around 6 p.m. After exiting the store, the two attempted to cross South Main Street where it intersects with Ash and Roberts streets.

James Bonomo's lawyer, Jason L. McCoy, of the Law Offices of Jason L. McCoy, LLC in Vernon, said that brother and sister made it across the first lane of traffic and crossed the double yellow line. But then a vehicle driven by Karen Williams-Salmon, a state Department of Children and Families employee, struck Bonomo.

Bonomo is a big man, about 6-feet-5-inches tall and weighing 300 pounds. Williams-Salmon's car struck his right knee and Bonomo fell to the ground in pain.

X-rays taken at New Britain General Hospital revealed no fractures. Bonomo's pain continued, however, and he returned to the hospital two days later. Again he was x-rayed and sent home with pain medicine.

McCoy said Bonomo was next treated at Grove Hill Medical Center in New Britain. MRI exams revealed tears in the medial collateral ligament and anterior cruciate ligament in the right knee. Bonomo also had a disc herniation in his low back.

Doctors placed Bonomo's right leg in a hard cast, but McCoy said his client had such extreme anxiety about medical treatment and the cast that he ended up cutting the cast off on his own, with a machete. "He cut the thing off because it freaked him out so much," said McCoy.

McCoy said the day after Bonomo cut his cast off, he aggravated his knee injury while wrestling with his brother, prompting another trip to the doctor.

Bonomo's doctor said he will eventually need surgery on the knee, but because he's so anxious about medical treatment and lacks health insurance, he is putting it off for now. Bonomo has amassed $11,500 in medical bills so far, McCoy said.

Williams-Salmon, meanwhile, was driving a state-owned vehicle. There is a dispute over who had the right of way in the intersection. Bonomo and his sister said Williams-Salmon had a red light. Williams-Salmon claims the light was green.

McCoy brought a negligence claim on Bonomo's behalf against the State of Connecticut. The state was represented by Jeffrey C. Pingpank, of Cooney, Scully, in Hartford.

Pingpank argued that the accident wasn't Williams-Salmon's fault, that Bonomo was crossing the street against the light and not paying attention. Pingpank also argued that the wrestling match between Bonomo and his brother was more of the cause of Bonomo's knee pain than getting hit by the car.

Further, Pingpank attacked Bonomo's credibility by pointing out to the jury that he had a prior felony conviction for larceny. Bonomo was given a suspended one-year jail sentence and a one-year conditional discharge for the 2006 crime when he was 18 years old.

McCoy said the state made no pre-trial settlement offers. The case proceeded to trial earlier this spring before Judge Cynthia Swienton in New Britain Superior Court. Jury selection took six days. The trial itself took five hours.

Bonomo testified, as did his sister and their grandmother. A large part of the testimony focused on Bonomo's loss of life's enjoyment since his knee injury; Bonomo loved dogs and had three or four of them, but, he testified, the knee injury prevented him from playing with his pets. His grandmother said Bonomo could no longer go jogging with her.

McCoy said the only defense witness was Williams-Salmon. During her deposition and the trial, McCoy said, she could recall very few details of the accident. The attorney said she did not recall how fast she was driving and described Bonomo as "average-sized," despite his tall, hefty frame.

Jurors deliberated for around two hours and awarded Bonomo $150,000; but they said he was 25 percent at fault, reducing the verdict to $112,500. Pingpank, on behalf of the state, has filed post-trial motions contesting the verdict. A hearing is scheduled for May 20, and Pingpank declined to comment for this article.

McCoy said his client was happy with the verdict. He said Bonomo, now 24, just recently found a job in Texas and moved there. "When the verdict came in he was very satisfied," said McCoy. "It was definitely a serious injury and traumatic event. I think it compensates him in the way that he needs."•"

DUI - HMMMM? Effects of Panax ginseng on blood alcohol clearance in man [Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 1987] - PubMed - NCBI

Effects of Panax ginseng on blood... [Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 1987] - PubMed - NCBI: Effects of Panax ginseng on blood alcohol clearance in man.

1. Fourteen healthy male volunteers were studied to assess the effects of Panax ginseng on blood alcohol clearance, utilizing each subject as his own control. 2. At 40 min after the last drink, the blood alcohol level in the test group receiving ginseng extract (3 g/65 kg body weight) along with alcohol (72 g/65 kg body weight) was about 35% lower than their control values. 3. When the blood alcohol level was compared on individual bases, alcohol concentrations in 10 out of 14 test subjects ranged from 32 to 51% lower than their control values. 4. These results demonstrate that P. ginseng extract enhances blood alcohol clearance in man.

Truck Driving Instructor Awarded $580K

Connecticut Law Tribune: Truck Driving Instructor Awarded $580K After Car Crash:
Truck Driving Instructor Awarded $580K After Car Crash
Connecticut Law Tribune
Monday, April 23, 2012 Copyright 2012, ALM Properties, Inc.

Truck Driving Instructor Awarded $580K After Car Crash, Back injuries led to verdict, which was reduced by insurance policy limits

By CHRISTIAN NOLAN

"Carolyn Champagne-Haire v. Dorma J. Hughes, et al.: A truck driving instructor who was injured in a Rockville car crash was recently awarded nearly $580,000 by a jury, though because of insurance policy limits she will actually receive much less.

Carolyn Champagne-Haire, 50, of Vernon, was traveling on Union Street in Rockville on the morning of Oct. 27, 2006, according to her lawyer, Jason L. McCoy, also of Vernon. At the time, Champagne-Haire was working as an instructor for the New England Tractor Trailer Training School.

Another driver, Dorma J. Hughes, suddenly pulled out into the busy traffic of Union Street and collided head-on with Champagne-Haire’s vehicle. Fortunately, neither vehicle was moving at a high rate of speed, so the collision itself wasn’t all that bad, McCoy noted.

The attorney said that Hughes was clearly at fault for the crash and that she was an uninsured driver. “This person pulled out and basically drove into [Champagne-Haire] head-on,” said McCoy. “It wasn’t a terrible car wreck. But obviously the problems she’s had [since the accident] were really bad.”

McCoy said Champagne-Haire has had back problems ever since the crash. After an MRI a couple years after the accident revealed the extent of her injuries, she ultimately needed a lumbar fusion surgery.

Immediately after the crash, Champagne-Haire went to a chiropractor for her back pain. The same chiropractor had previously treated her for neck and back pain. A longtime tractor-trailer driver, McCoy said his client was prone to having a sore neck from long hours on the road.

After eventually getting discharged from treatment by the chiropractor, Champagne-Haire stopped seeking any medical attention for a year-and-a-half, as McCoy noted that she devoted much of her time caring for an ailing husband who had heart problems.

However, McCoy said during that entire time, Champagne-Haire would take Advil during the day and Tylenol PM at night to cope with all the back pain she continued to experience.

Finally, she sought out an orthopedic doctor in Hartford. An MRI revealed the extent of damage to her low back and the need for a fusion surgery. Her surgery date was delayed, however, because she fell and broke her ankle. She had the fusion surgery roughly a year before her late 2011 trial.

McCoy explained that because the negligent driver, Hughes, was uninsured, he had to name Allstate Insurance, Champagne-Haire’s car insurance carrier, as a party to the lawsuit in order to recover underinsured motorist benefits.

Allstate was represented in the case by Peter Menard of the Law Office of Mark S. Gilcreast in Hartford. Menard did not return calls seeking comment.

McCoy said defense attorney Menard acknowledged that Hughes was negligent in causing the crash, but he argued that all of Champagne-Haire’s back problems pre-dated the accident. He further argued that any pain she did have as a result of the crash must have gone away if she was discharged by the chiropractor and did not seek other treatment for an additional 18 months before seeing the orthopedist, Dr. W. Jay Krompinger.

Prior to trial, McCoy said, the insurance company attorney offered just $16,000 to settle the case.
The case went to trial in the Judicial District of Tolland at Rockville over three days in December, with Judge Robert B. Shapiro presiding.

McCoy said the testimony of Champagne-Haire’s witnesses were crucial. They included a supervisor at the tractor-trailer driving school and a kindergarten teacher for whom Champagne-Haire had served as a homeroom mom. The plaintiff has three children, McCoy noted.

McCoy said the kindergarten teacher explained how she could tell that Champagne-Haire was in pain in the classroom on the day of the crash. She also described how in the following days and weeks Champagne-Haire had a great deal of difficulty handling the young, energetic children. The witness went on to detail all the types of movements and bending that gave Champagne-Haire trouble in the classroom.

The kindergarten teacher told the jury that Champagne-Haire never showed any signs of back discomfort prior to the accident in her interactions with the children.

The supervisor at the truck-driving school also testified that Champagne-Haire was an exemplary employee prior to the crash.

McCoy said the witness from the training school said something to the effect of “she was like our best instructor and just went downhill after this.”

The predominantly female jury (only one male) came back with a verdict of $579,943. Of that amount, $400,000 was for non-economic damages. McCoy noted that Champagne-Haire may need additional back surgery.

“I don’t think the arguments of a pre-existing condition really went any place” with the jury, said McCoy.

After the verdict, Menard, the defense lawyer, filed a motion to set aside the verdict and have a new trial; Judge Shapiro turned down that motion last month. McCoy’s motion requesting interest and attorney fees was also denied by the judge.

Because Champagne-Haire’s uninsured motorist coverage policy limit was $100,000, Judge Shapiro last month ruled that despite the jury verdict of nearly $580,000, Allstate had to pay only the $100,000.

Overall, McCoy said his client was pleased, as the award will pay off liens from medical providers and greatly exceeds the $16,000 the defense offered to settle the case — or the $40,000 to $50,000 the plaintiffs would have likely accepted to settle the case pre-trial. “She’s a nice lady,” said McCoy. “It was a good result. She was happy.”•"
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