$3.8 Million Settlement for Family of Grandmother Killed in Head-On Crash on Farmington Avenue

On the afternoon of October 20, 2016, Janet Pulver was driving on Farmington Avenue in Farmington when a Volvo V70 operated by Bennett Dunbar, 27, of West Hartford crossed the double yellow line and hit her car head-on. Dunbar was traveling at speeds reported to be upward of double the posted 40 mph limit, and toxicology later showed marijuana in his bloodstream. Pulver, 66, of Avon sustained blunt traumatic injuries and died at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center 28 hours after the collision.

Dunbar was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle. In September 2017 he pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of felony misconduct with a motor vehicle and was sentenced in November 2017 to five years in prison, suspended after he serves three. At sentencing, he expressed remorse for his actions.

Janet Pulver's two adult children retained Michael Jainchill, a partner at Hartford's RisCassi & Davis, to bring a wrongful death action in Hartford Superior Court. One significant challenge was establishing economic damages: Pulver had not worked outside the home since her children were young and had devoted substantial time to caring for her grandchildren without pay. Jainchill developed a damages framework grounded in the market cost of professional childcare services to represent the economic value of that unpaid labor, an approach that carried legal uncertainty under Connecticut law but gave mediators a concrete basis for valuation.

After an all-day mediation session before retired judge Elaine Gordon, the parties reached a settlement on June 1, 2018 for $3.8 million total. The recovery was funded by two insurers covering Dunbar: Chubb contributed approximately $3.43 million through an umbrella policy, and Travelers contributed roughly $467,000 through the auto policy. The defense had opened negotiations at $1 million against an initial demand of $5.5 million.

The result was recognized by the Connecticut Law Tribune in its year-end feature on lawyers who secured major outcomes in 2018. The settlement was distributed to Pulver's two adult children as statutory beneficiaries under Connecticut wrongful death law.