Injured man wins nearly $450,000
Toolbox
By Brent Curtis Staff Writer - Published: May 2, 2009
A Rutland man seriously injured in an accident four years ago at a business on Meadow Street was awarded nearly $450,000 by a Rutland Superior Court jury this week.
The award came at the end of a three-day trial between Joseph Ragosta, who was injured in 2005 when a falling press brake struck him, and Pins Fabricating, Inc., a Pittsfield company that leased space at 11 Meadow St. when Ragosta was injured.
According to the legal complaint, filed in March 2007, Ragosta, who doesn't work for Pins, was driving by in his fuel truck on Nov. 10, 2005, when he was asked by a Pins employee for advice on how to move a 3-ton press brake.
At that time, several Pins employees were trying to move the heavy and top-heavy press brake using a forklift and rollers, according to the complaint and Ragosta's lawyer, Aaron Eaton.
Eaton said Ragosta was speaking to the Pins employees when the press brake fell off the rollers, striking Ragosta and knocking him violently to the ground.
Ragosta's injuries were severe — he was diagnosed with severe multiple fractures of his pelvic bone, multiple rib fractures, a right wrist fracture, multiple lacerations and bruises around his right eye and a severe concussion, according to the lawsuit.
He also endured multiple operations, a large pulmonary embolism and a blood-thinner-induced reaction.
Four years after the accident, Ragosta is still in pain, Eaton said, living with a right leg that is one inch shorter than his left leg and he can walk only with a cane.
He has also been unable to work and needs help dressing, walking, bathing and "will forever be subject to a loss of enjoyment of life," according to the lawsuit.
Eaton said lawyers representing Pins argued that Ragosta was trespassing at the facility and they denied that Ragosta was ever asked for help or was invited into the building.
In the jury's verdict, that argument was upheld in part — jurors decided that Ragosta was 40 percent negligent and therefore responsible.
But since the Pins company was more than 50 percent negligent, the jury awarded Ragosta compensatory damages for his medical expenses and past and future personal injury costs.
The jury award amounted to $693,000 with an additional $56,415 in interest. But because the jurors decided that Ragosta was partially responsible, the award was lowered by 40 percent to $449,649.
brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com
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