News & Cases
$29M Settlement Might Have Been Less Had Victim Died.Sifa Tuiaki was stringing up fiber optic cables from an elevated perch above Highway 1 in Mendocino county when disaster struck. As a co-worker steered the bucket truck around a bend in the road, he never saw the overhead power line, Tuiaki's lawyer says. Instantly, the collision sent 7, 200 volts of electricity coursing through Tuiaki's body, leaving the 36-year old cableman with burns over 45 percent of his body. Miraculously, Tuiaki survived. And as a result, what might have been a fairly simple wrongful death suit became an extraordinary high-stakes personal injury claim. On Jan. 29, Tuiaki's lawyer, Timothy Tietjen, announced a $29 million settlement with 10 defendants. Tuiaki's injuries were "the most catastrophic you could ever imagine", said Tietjen, a partner at San Francisco's Rouda, Feder, Tietjen & Zanobini. His client had both arms amputated and was left paralyzed below the waist, Tietjen said. In preparing to mediate the case, Tietjen hired a consultant to film a documentary showing the testimony he would use at trial, along with images of his client's multiple surgeries. One displayed Tuiaki balancing his new-born daughter on his lap, unable to hold her in his arms, Tietjen said. Occupational injuries like those Tuiaki suffered are not totally uncommon, Tietjen said, but this case was highly unusual. "More often than not," he said, "when people come into contact with a 7,200-volt power line and sustain that kind of injury, they're dead." After two mediation sessions with ADR Services mediator Alfred Chiantelli, one of the many defendants, Pauley Construction, agreed to pay Tuiaki $14 million. Another defendant, Adelphia Communications, agreed to pay $5 million. Reuben Jacobson, a defense lawyer for Adelphia, said the settlement takes into consideration the "legal realities" of the case. "It's hard to hold things against a person in the plaintiff's condition who's a good person...[and] who's clearly a stand-up person, as the plaintiff was from all accounts, " said Jacobson, a partner at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith. Adelphia's maximum exposure at trail would have been $ 36 million, Jacobson added. Jacobson agreed that it's unusual for someone to survive the trauma Tuiaki suffered. And like Tietjen, the plaintiff's lawyer, Jacobson also said the case would have taken the defense in a different, less costly direction had Tuiaki succumbed to his injuries. "When you see the pictures and the videos, it's a really horrifying sight in some ways," Jacobson said. "And I don't think anyone could see it any other way. - Matthew Hirsch |
