Aimee Hamoy-Perera, with the assistance of summer associate Stephen Tye, completed a two-week trial in Fresno County from June 17 to June 28 with Judge Jeffrey Hamilton. Plaintiff Verenice Torres, represented by Nicholas “Butch” Wagner of Wagner & Jones in Fresno, sought monetary damages based on a negligence theory after Plaintiff suffered a herniated disc at C5-6 when a palm tree that was for sale at the Home Depot in Selma on March 21, 2010 fell and struck her on her left shoulder/upper back area.
Plaintiff’s experts claimed she would not be able to return to her work as a correctional officer due to the injury and sought compensation for future wage loss and loss of household services in excess of $1 million. During closing argument, Plaintiff’s counsel asked for a total verdict of approximately $2.1 million.
Defendant presented evidence through defense medical expert testimony from Dr. H.B. Morgan (orthopedic surgeon) and Plaintiff’s treating physician, Dr. Donald Myers (neurosurgeon) that Plaintiff would have an 80-90% recover after surgery for the disc and be able to return to work without limitations. Ms. Hamoy-Perera asked the jury to award Plaintiff $300,000.00, inclusive of past and future medical expenses and wage loss while in recovery.
Prior to trial, Plaintiff made a demand of $700,000. Defendant made a final offer of $575,000 which was rejected.
After 3 and ½ hours of deliberation, the 12 person jury (6 men and 6 women) awarded Plaintiff a total verdict of just under $625,000, which included $350,000 for past and future pain and suffering. The jury was not convinced that Plaintiff could not return to work and awarded just $100,000 for future wage loss; $20,000 for past household services and $7,000 for future household services.