BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Supreme Court has reinstated a substantial award for Frank Cushenberry, a truck driver left partially disabled from a 2018 accident, after a prior decision significantly reduced his compensation. This legal turnaround restores over $10 million to Cushenberry and increases his family’s compensation for loss of consortium to more than $2 million.
Cushenberry, employed by Capitol City Produce of Baton Rouge, encountered disaster while maneuvering his box truck on Interstate 10 in LaPlace on March 27, 2018. An incident with a contractor’s pickup truck, under the employment of Barber Brothers Contracting Company and engaged in a Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development project, led to Cushenberry’s vehicle overturning. The crash inflicted severe injuries upon him, including damage to his face, neck, shoulder, spine, and brain.
Despite enduring over 300 medical visits within the first three years post-accident, Cushenberry’s condition left him with ongoing disabilities. His legal team brought a case against Barber Brothers Contracting Company, and in 2020, an East Baton Rouge jury ruled the contracting firm entirely at fault. The jury originally awarded Cushenberry $10.75 million for general damages, with additional sums covering medical costs, lost wages, and a $5.5 million award for his wife and two children.
However, the award faced reduction after Barber Brothers Contracting appealed to the state Supreme Court. The justices, in a 5-2 decision, concluded the jury’s verdict was excessive by alleging Cushenberry failed to avoid the construction activity. Consequently, they reduced his $16.2 million total damages outside of medical expenses and lost wages to less than $5 million, citing a precedent to align general damage awards with those given in previous similar cases.
Justice John Weimer noted the originally substantial general damage award seemed excessively disproportionate to the harm suffered by Cushenberry. This opinion echoed within the court’s initial decision to reduce the compensation awarded. Nevertheless, after reevaluating the arguments in a December 19 re-hearing, the Supreme Court, in a tight 4-3 decision, restored the original damages, emphasizing the profound negative impact of Cushenberry’s injuries on his lifestyle and identity.
Prior to the accident, Cushenberry, at 37, had been extensively involved in physically demanding activities, including coaching his son’s Little League teams. The injuries not only limited his physical capacities but also altered his personality and self-perception, noted by the court majority in their decision to reinstate the full damages.
The outcome of this legal battle speaks to the broader implications of acknowledgment and compensation for personal injury and loss of quality of life. Attorney Lewis Unglesby, who represented Cushenberry, expressed that the reinstated award is a testament to the robustness of the jury system, marking it as one of the largest amounts upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court for an individual. Attorney Peyton Murphy highlighted the ongoing struggles that Cushenberry has faced since the accident, underlining the severity of his “cascade of injuries.”
This unfolds new perspectives on judicial discretion in assessing personal injury damages, illustrating the complications inherent in quantifying human suffering and loss.
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