The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997            TAG: 9701300339
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  129 lines

ACCIDENT VICTIM WINS $17.5 MILLION AWARD BELIEVED TO BE LARGEST EVER BY A JURY IN VIRGINIA

From the start, lawyers suspected that David J. Mraz might win a big jury verdict this week in his personal-injury trial. The only question was how big.

Two mock juries had heard Mraz's case in a practice trial Jan. 4 and awarded him stunning sums: $20 million and $17.5 million. ``He has been through hell,'' one juror said afterward.

On Wednesday, after a weeklong trial in Portsmouth Circuit Court, Mraz got the real verdict from a real jury, and it was every bit as big as expected: $20 million.

Lawyers on both sides believe it is the biggest jury verdict ever in Virginia.

Under terms of an agreement with the insurance company, however, Mraz will receive $17.5 million, minus legal fees of about $5.8 million, and the insurance company waives the right to appeal.

Mraz wept in his wheelchair as the verdict was read, gripping the hands of his attorneys, Jeffrey A. Breit of Norfolk and Bruce D. Rasmussen of Charlottesville.

``This wasn't a high verdict. This was a fair verdict,'' Rasmussen said later. ``It's just that this was such an unusual case.''

One defense attorney agreed: ``It was the worst injury case in my career, the worst I've ever heard of,'' said John M. Oakey Jr. of Richmond.

Mraz, 37, was nearly crushed in a freak 1994 truck accident near Charlottesville. He is a former counselor for learning-disabled and emotionally disturbed children. He grew up in Norfolk, lived in Charlottesville at the time accident, and now lives in Norfolk.

Mraz and his Honda Civic were crushed by a 16-ton concrete wall that fell from a tractor-trailer as the truck rounded a curve on a winding two-lane road in rural Albemarle County.

The wall landed on the front of Mraz's car, almost in his lap. The Honda was demolished. Mraz was pinned inside from the waist down, his pelvis smashed. Eventually he lost one leg, his spleen, spent nine months in a hospital and ran up $925,000 in medical bills.

He returned home in a wheelchair, 35 years old with a wife and four children, never to work again.

The concrete wall was 35 feet long, 10 feet high and one foot thick. It was being hauled on a flatbed trailer from a plant in Fredericksburg, bound for a renovation project at the Roanoke Hotel and Convention Center.

The wall was tied down with two straps and a cable, standing upright inside the trailer. The straps snapped as the truck rounded a curve, as Mraz was passing in the opposite direction.

It was Mraz's wife's birthday, and Mraz was out running routine errands - buying a birthday card for his wife and fishing rods for his two young sons. His wife, Elizabeth, was waiting at home, getting ready for a birthday dinner at Red Lobster.

At trial, there were two issues:

Who was to blame for the mishap?

How much should Mraz get in damages?

Mraz sued three defendants: Exposaic Industries Inc. of Virginia, a Fredericksburg company that manufactured the concrete wall and loaded it onto the truck; Rainbow Trucking Inc. of Culpeper, and truck driver Charles L. Williams.

Mraz's attorneys argued that all three were negligent - that Exposaic did not properly secure the load in the truck, and that Rainbow and Williams did not properly monitor the load while driving the truck.

By law, the lawyers argued, the wall should have been tied down with four straps, not three.

One witness testified that the wall was wobbling loosely inside the straps before it fell. Another said truck drivers had complained in the past about how Exposaic loaded its concrete panels onto trucks, but nothing was done.

``This was a company that was cutting corners on safety,'' Rasmussen told the jury.

The companies blamed each other.

Exposaic said the wall was firmly secured when it left the plant. The company suggested that the driver was speeding. Rainbow, however, said it did not load the truck and that Exposaic never told the driver how to keep the load secure.

Defense attorneys asked the jury not to award Mraz damages. ``Just because he's been in an accident, had a horrible injury, doesn't mean you have to give him money,'' Exposaic's attorney, Oakey, told the jury.

More important was the amount of damages.

Mraz's lawyers asked for $30 million. They said Mraz had $925,000 in past medical bills and would need about $3.1 million for future bills. They said Mraz would lose about $497,000 in future income. They suggested more damages for pain and suffering.

``That's an enormous sum of money,'' Rasmussen told the jury, but ``David Mraz has earned it. David Mraz deserves it because of what they did to him.''

Defense lawyers called the $30 million figure outrageous.

``I don't think there's anyone in this courtroom who's not sympathetic to David Mraz and what he has gone through,'' Oakey told the jury. But, Oakey said, $30 million ``probably represents the total lifetime earnings of everyone in this courtroom.''

The jury deliberated eight hours Tuesday and Wednesday before rendering its verdict against all defendants. Then, five jurors waited outside the courtroom to congratulate Mraz and offer support.

Mraz declined to comment publicly.

``He was overjoyed knowing he could take care of his family,'' Breit said later. ``But he wanted to go home.''

Mraz will not get all of that $20 million.

In an agreement reached before closing arguments, the insurance company agreed to pay a minimum of $4 million and a maximum of $17.5 million, depending on how the jury ruled, lawyers said Wednesday.

That means that even though the jury awarded $20 million, the payout actually will be $17.5 million. In return, the insurance company will waive all rights to appeal.

Also, Mraz's attorneys will take a standard one-third contingency fee, which is about $5.8 million, to be split by two law firms.

That means Mraz will get about $11.7 million.

Lawyers on both sides said they believe that the biggest previous jury verdict in Virginia was in Richmond in 1991. In that case, a jury awarded $10 million to Daniel Rexinger, executive vice president of Circuit City Stores Inc., after a 1988 car accident.

Much of that money was compensation for lost income. Rexinger was making almost $500,000 a year in salary and other compensation.

Most personal-injury cases never go to trial; they are settled out of court. In the Mraz case, the two sides were never really close enough to settle, Breit said.

Before trial, the defendants offered $5.5 million, Breit said. After two days of trial, the defendants raised the offer to $6 million, then raised it again to $8 million after Mraz testified Friday, Breit said. Mraz's attorneys asked for $12 million.

After the verdict, Mraz went home, but his legal team celebrated with champagne and veal at a downtown Norfolk restaurant.

``To David,'' Rasmussen said, raising his champagne glass.

``And to Portsmouth juries,'' Breit added. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo of the crushed car]

KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC LAWSUIT VERDICT PERSONAL INJURY


by CNB