$109 million personal-injury award in Western Pennsylvania offers insight into tort system
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When Carrie Goretzka's two young girls ran out onto the porch of their suburban home 30 miles east of Pittsburgh in the late afternoon on June 2, 2009, what they saw was a scene of unrelenting horror.
»Read story: $109 million personal-injury award in Western Pennsylvania offers insight into tort system
»Read story: $109 million personal-injury award in Western Pennsylvania offers insight into tort system
Comments (53)
Award is outta line. Excellent lawyering, though. Don't hate the playa.— albrock- $109 M is an atrocious award. Her death was horrible and I am sure there is impact on the children and husband but $109M is abusive. The American legal system is self-destructive with its awards. Let me guess....$100 M would go to the attorneys on both sides?— jonline
- The damages were computed wrong. A doctorate in engineering from Yale does not make you an expert in calculating damages. Besides Yale is a second rate engineering school. The jury foreman does not know what he talking about. The financial statements of a company mean nothing. This case will be thrown out at appeal.— chippersql
- How much is too much for an agonizing death of a mother, that happened because of carelessness? These corporate types only feel financial punishment, so punish them as much as possible. Does anyone think these two girls will ever be able erase that horrifying image of their mother on fire? It will haunt them for the rest of their lives.— POF
- The customers of the utility company will be the payers in the end. What's wrong about calling from inside the house anyway, I bet the linemen had told her on the previous occasions how dangerous downed wires are.— longbikez
- I don't think so. The company's prices are regulated. The company was clearly culpable. It was down three times and they, clearly, just kept fixing it the same way each time. If the linemen told her, that might offer more proof that she didn't stumble, but that something happened that she couldn't help. If she was warned, I'm guessing she wouldn't have been reckless. — PotteryPete
- Because the company backed out of a $50 million settlement (plus the repairs to the line), they can't expect a $60-70 mil verdict. The gamble would be worth taking. The poor woman was zapped for 20 minutes and lived 3 days. We would euthanize a dog in this situation. This was a preventable death. A horrific death. By the way, @longbikez- you sound like an a''hole.— iodine
- $5 million for spilling coffee on yourself: this award is in line with that.— STEPHEN1988
- Zap.— zen
- She walked toward the line? Didn't have a back door? Yes, horrible and all that, and the family should get some money, but what a moron. Especially if the line has fallen before. "Oh, this time I'll go wrangle the power line myself!" I believe they have an award for this. I think it's called Darwin.— verve
- How much of that verdict did the Goretzka family actually receive?— Temple Mad
- iodine: Your right it was a preventable death. People with brains would of stayed inside their house, far away from a downed power line and called the power company from inside their house.— Larry Cheswald
- Disagree with POF "These corporate types only feel financial punishment,..."
Only with prison time for an executive will corps. feel pain.
It appears there's negligence, but I'm not sure about jailtime here.— ald - I agree there. Unless there's proof that the CEO mandated that crappy work be done, there's nothing criminal. Not to mention that the CEO probably has nothing to do with people who would have fixed the line. — PotteryPete
- unless she is an NFL QB, no way is she worth 100M— ekw555
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