Farmington Man Wins $707,149 Jury Verdict After Two-Vehicle Collision Left Him With Back and Shoulder Injuries

A collision in Farmington, Connecticut left a local man dealing with two serious physical injuries: damage to his back and a torn rotator cuff. Both conditions required ongoing medical attention and changed how he functioned day to day. His wife and two children testified at trial about the ways the injuries had reduced what he could do at home and with his family.

Andrew Groher, a partner at RisCassi and Davis in Hartford, represented the plaintiff and took the case to trial in Hartford Superior Court. Groher argued that the defendant bore full responsibility for the crash and that the medical evidence, combined with accounts from the plaintiff's treating physicians, established the true scope of the harm the man had suffered.

At trial, Groher called the plaintiff, his wife, and his two children to testify. Their accounts of how back pain and shoulder limitations had altered the man's daily life proved important to the jury's assessment. 'I believe the jury accepted the severity of the injuries based on my client's testimony and that from his doctors and his family,' Groher told the Connecticut Law Tribune after the verdict. 'My client and the others gave pretty compelling testimony on how he has been limited due to his back injury.'

On September 23, 2021, the jury returned a verdict of $707,149. That figure was $32,000 more than the amount Groher had requested in his closing argument, indicating the jury independently assessed the plaintiff's damages above the number plaintiff's counsel put forward. No reduction or remittitur of the award was reported.

The Connecticut Law Tribune, a staffed legal trade publication, covered the verdict in its September 27, 2021 edition.