Litigation
Jul. 19, 2002
Judge Tacks $5.3 Million Onto Jury's Award
SAN FRANCISCO - A judge has added millions of dollars to a jury's verdict, saying jurors short-changed a snowboarder who was partially paralyzed when she launched off a defective ski jump.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Paul Alvarado tacked $5.3 million onto the $713,000 a jury gave Charlene Vine for her pain and suffering. Although there is no formula to calculate pain and suffering damages, Alvarado said the jury award was "clearly inadequate in light of the catastrophic injury" she suffered.
The judge gave defendant Bear Valley Ski Company a choice between accepting the new amount or impaneling a new jury to calculate the pain and suffering damages. Defense attorney Peter Koenig, a partner at San Francisco's Arter & Hadden, said he wouldn't accept the new amount.
"I don't think there was a jury trial in this case," he said. "I think this case was tried by [plaintiffs attorney] Mike Danko with the assistance of Paul Alvarado."
But Koenig doesn't expect the case will reach a new jury, as he has appealed the verdict. The case never should have reached trial, he said, because Vine's injury is covered by workers' compensation.
Plaintiffs attorney Niall Yamane praised the judge's decision as boldly bucking an unwritten rule that judges only subtract from jury verdicts.
"The notion is that juries so routinely give money away that it's like playing the lottery, hitting the jackpot," said Yamane, a partner at San Mateo's O'Reilly Collins & Danko. "The theory is, if a jury would give it to them, that's the most they should get."
Vine worked at administrative jobs for Bear Valley Ski Company. During an end-of-the-season party in April 2000, she launched off the jump, fell almost two stories and landed flat on her back. The impact severed her spinal cord and left her a paraplegic. She will have no feeling below her midriff for the rest of her life.
Vine sued Bear Valley, claiming the company modified the jump before the party to make it even more dangerous.
After four months of trial, in May 2002 a jury found that Bear Valley's negligence in designing the jump had caused Vine's accident. The jurors awarded $3.727 million in economic damages and $713,000 in non-economic damages. They also found that Vine was 54 percent responsible for her own injury, reducing her total to about $2.02 million.
Alvarado added to the award Friday, bringing her total recovery to S7.32 million.
Yamane said he believes the jury gave Vine less money because she was hurt while voluntarily participating in a dangerous sport. Although he was able to show that Vine didn't assume the secondary risk of a poorly designed ski jump, the jury was still reluctant to reward a daredevil, he said.
"Juries think if you are out there skiing, mountain climbing, bungee jumping, you assume the risk for catastrophic injury," he said. "Those cases are routinely lost. And when they're won, juries give very little money."
Yamane's advice to lawyers trying similar cases: Get a good expert. It helps to have experts beyond the usual ski instructor, he said. In Vine's case, the plaintiffs used UC-Davis professor Montgomery Hubbard, who designed computer models used to train the U.S. Olympic bobsled team.
The case is Vine v. Bear Valley Ski Company, 317766.
Tyler Cunningham
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