Jackson County Jury Awards $6.7 Million After Power Line Contact Leaves Kansas City Man with Brain Injury

In May 2015, Frederick Trotman was painting his Kansas City home when his aluminum extension ladder brushed an overhead power line running close to the house. The line carried more than 7,000 volts and was not insulated. The contact sent an electrical surge through Trotman's body that stopped his heart.

When first responders arrived, Trotman had no pulse, was not breathing, and his pupils were fixed and dilated. Paramedics used a defibrillator to restore a heartbeat. He remained comatose for several days. By the time his condition stabilized, physicians had documented anoxic brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation, a mild ischemic stroke, neuromuscular abnormalities, cognitive deficits, persistent dizziness, and impaired emotional control. He was 47 years old at the time.

Trotman and his wife Yolande sued Kansas City Power and Light in 2016, arguing the utility had a duty to insulate or reroute a line positioned only 17 inches from a residential structure and had failed to do so. Kevin Young of Peterson and Associates, P.C. in Kansas City tried the case. Before trial, KCP&L offered $1 million to resolve the claims; the Trotmans' final demand was $3 million.

After seven days of testimony, the Jackson County jury found KCP&L 78 percent at fault and assigned the remaining 22 percent to Trotman. The jury awarded Frederick Trotman $3 million in actual damages and Yolande Trotman $200,000 for her own losses, then added $3.5 million in punitive damages, producing a gross verdict of $6.7 million. Applying the comparative-fault reduction to the actual damages brought the net judgment on compensatory damages to approximately $5.9 million, with the punitive award on top. The verdict was returned on September 11, 2019.