THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994 TAG: 9406230440
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940623 LENGTH: Medium
Regina's accident-damaged brain ``now has the mental capacity of a 6-year-old,'' according to a decision in her favor that was handed down by the N.C. Court of Appeals on Tuesday.
{REST} Regina's father was killed and she and other members of her family were hurt in an Oct. 17, 1986, head-on collision on the new Albemarle Sound bridge. The other vehicle was driven by a workman who helped build the span.
Subsequently, the workman and the bridge-building company that employed him were named defendants in a suit brought by Regina's family. A Washington County jury at Plymouth returned verdicts against the workman and the company, and awarded Regina $2.25 million in damages.
The company went to the Appeals Court after a Washington County Superior Court in 1991 refused to set aside the jury's verdict. The driver of the car that hit the Peal vehicle did not appeal and his insurance company has reached a settlement with the Peal family.
In ruling for the jury and Regina this week, the three-member appellate court decided against the company and supported what could become a precedent-setting legal argument offered by Elizabeth City attorneys L.P. ``Tony'' Hornthal Jr. and M.H. Hood Ellis.
Hornthal and Ellis told the court there is a brother's keeper relationship between a company and an employee who drinks beer after hours on a parking lot operated by the company. The Elizabeth City attorneys told the court the company was aware that some employees ``passed the hat'' after work to buy beer.
Testimony at the first jury trial indicated that the company had knowledge of the fact that Howard Thomas Smith, the employee whose car hit the Peal family automobile, had been drinking beer with other off-duty workmen before starting on his fatal ride across the bridge.
Hornthal and Ellis argued that Smith was alcohol-impaired at the time of the accident and that his employer, the Cianbro-Williams Construction Co., Inc., ``had failed to enforce or carry out their own regulations which . . . would have prevented Smith from becoming intoxicated on their business premises.''
Cianbro-Williams in its defense cited ``social host'' cases which have held that liability for accidents caused after sociable drinking should not be directed at the place of business where the drinking occurred.
``We conclude that this is not a social host liability case but one proceeding under basic standards of common law negligence,'' Hornthal and Ellis told the Appeals Court.
The court unanimously agreed this week.
``We find the trial court . . . correctly instructed the jury on appropriate principles of common law negligence. We therefor affirm the court's decision and the jury's verdict in all respects,'' said the N.C. Appeals Court decision by Judges Robert F. Orr, Hugh Albert Wells and John Martin.
In Raleigh, there was no statement from the Cianbro-Williams law firm of Maupin Taylor Ellis & Adams whether the N.C. Supreme Court would be asked to review the Appeals Court decision.
For Appeals Court observers, there was further legal piquancy because a senior partner in the prestigious Raleigh law firm that lost the decision is Thomas F. Ellis, father of Hood Ellis.
``Tom'' Ellis is honored among conservatives as the founder of the National Congressional Club, for years the political organization that raised money and planned the successful strategy that sent U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., to Washington for four terms.
``I hope my father is personally pleased with my work in this case,'' Hood Ellis said Wednesday.
But more than this, Hood Ellis and Hornthal hope the N.C. Supreme Court will refuse to act on an expected petition from Tom Ellis' Raleigh law firm to reconsider the Appeals Court ruling.
``The defendants have a right to petition the State Supreme Court, but if the court declines to act, that will end it'' and Regina will get her money, Hornthal said. ``Accumulated interest now makes the jury award worth about $3.4 million.''
Hood Ellis and Hornthal both said they hoped Regina's suit would establish clearer legal responsibilities for employers over workmen on company property.
Hornthal and Ellis told the Appeals Court that Regina's mental ability ``will worsen as she ages.''
She now is under the care of her mother at their Plymouth home.
``This has shattered Regina's life and the lives of the survivors in her family,'' Hood Ellis said. by CNB