$39 Million Verdict for Family of Construction-Zone Inspector Killed on I-271

Randy Roginski was 41 years old and a father of three when he died on the shoulder of Interstate 271 in Richfield Township just before midnight on July 27, 2010. He worked as a pavement inspector for Solar Testing Labs Inc., monitoring an active repaving project for the Ohio Department of Transportation. The Shelly Company was the general contractor on the job.

At the time of the accident, Roginski was marking pavement on the highway shoulder. The Shelly Company's approved safety plan required two Ohio State Highway Patrol cruisers to be stationed in the work zone to manage traffic. That night only one was present. The compressed traffic pattern and the abrupt speed reduction from 65 mph to 25 mph pushed vehicles toward the shoulder where Roginski stood. A Honda Accord driven by Anthony Jones struck him. He did not survive.

Lynette Roginski, his widow, filed suit in 2011. She was represented at trial by Phillip A. Kuri of Elk and Elk Co., Ltd. and co-counsel Christian R. Patno. The legal team built the case around The Shelly Company's departure from its own court-approved traffic-control plan, presenting evidence that the contractor prioritized speed over the safety requirements it had agreed to follow.

After two weeks of trial, a unanimous jury returned a verdict on April 3, 2014: $19 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages, totaling $39 million. At the time it was reported as a record verdict in Cuyahoga County.

Following the verdict, Judge Michael E. Jackson applied Ohio's comparative-fault statute. The jury had allocated 35 percent of fault to the driver and 5 percent to Roginski himself, reducing the compensatory award to $12.1 million. The punitive figure was cut far more sharply. Ohio caps punitive damages at twice the compensatory damages tied to a tort action, and the court read that to reach only the survivorship claim, whose economic damages had been reduced to $23.75. Applying the formula, Judge Jackson entered an enforceable punitive award of $47.50, noting on the record that the sum did nothing to punish the conduct that caused Roginski's death. The reduction became the case's most-discussed feature and set up a lengthy fight over Ohio's punitive-damages cap.