Morales, Jose F v. Boccarossa, Peter J. Et Al

On March 05, 2024, the Connecticut jury delivered the verdict in favor of Defendant Peter J. Boccarossa in a personal injury lawsuit resulting from a motorcycle and motor vehicle collision at a busy intersection.

Case Background

The lawsuit was filed on April 30, 2020, by Plaintiff Jose F. Morales in the Connecticut Superior Court, Fairfield Division (Case number: FBT-CV20-6096645-S) and was presided over by Hon. John Riley. The cause of action arose from a motor vehicle accident on August 28, 2018. On that day, at around 4:11 p.m., Plaintiff was westbound, riding his motorcycle on Grandview Avenue, near an intersection with Kellog Street in Connecticut. At the same time, Defendant Peter J. Boccarossa was southbound, driving his car on Kellog Street, near the intersection with Grandview Avenue. Suddenly, without any warning, Defendant’s car allegedly steered right into the path of Plaintiff’s motorcycle, causing the two to collide.

Injuries

Due to Defendant Boccarossa’s supposed negligence, Plaintiff sustained severe injuries. He suffered multiple fractures of the bilateral parietal and occipital bones, with comminuted depressed fractures of the right parietal bone. Plaintiff Morales also suffered a 4mm subdural hemorrhage extending to the falx cerebri and left tentorium, with a 6mm left-to-right midline shift. The Plaintiff also had a nondisplaced comminuted fracture of the left mastoid bone and subarachnoid hemorrhage with tonsillar herniation at the C1 level.

He also suffered from brainstem compression, multiple brain contusions, bilateral rib fractures, and sternum fractures. His injuries included pulmonary contusions and multiple liver lacerations involving segments 4A, 4B, and 3, with associated hemorrhage extending into the portal hepatis. He also sustained a comminuted open fracture with a butterfly segment of the mid to distal right femur, accompanied by distraction, angulation, and overriding.

Furthermore, the Plaintiff suffered a laceration of the right superficial femoral artery and compartment syndrome in his right lower extremity. He sustained a compound open left tibia fracture and a compound open left mid-fibula fracture. Due to the extensive nature of the injuries he suffered, Plaintiff experienced physical and mental pain and suffering.

Damages

Plaintiff had to spend a substantial amount of money on medical care, medicines, diagnostic tests, and therapy to recover from the injuries sustained. Due to the accident, Plaintiff was and remained unable to participate in and enjoy usual activities. Accordingly, Plaintiff claimed monetary damages before the Court

Key Arguments and Proceedings

Legal Representation

Claims

Plaintiff alleged that Defendant’s negligence had caused the accident. It was alleged that Defendant failed to grant the right of way, violating Connecticut General Statutes Section 14-246. Furthermore, Defendant allegedly did not maintain a reasonable lookout for other vehicles and drove inattentively. Additionally, Plaintiff maintained that Defendant turned the vehicle unsafely and moved from a stop position without considering other traffic. This violated Section 14-298 of the Connecticut General Statutes, as Defendant ignored a state traffic sign and road marking.

Defense

Defendant denied the allegations of negligence against him in Plaintiff’s complaint. By way of special defense, Defendant asserted that Plaintiff’s own negligence caused, in whole or in part, the injuries and losses sustained by him. Specifically, it was alleged that on that day and time, Plaintiff had been operating his vehicle at an unreasonable and excessive speed, violating Connecticut General Statutes 14-219.

Plaintiff supposedly failed to maintain a reasonable lookout for other vehicles and to keep his vehicle under proper control. He did not grant Defendant the right of way, operated with defective brakes, and failed to stop or avoid the collision despite having a reasonable opportunity. The plaintiff drove in a manner that endangered others and failed to sound his horn. Furthermore, he operated a motorcycle without sufficient training or experience, endangering himself and others. Additionally, he drove a motorcycle with a defective mechanism, further impairing his ability to control the motorcycle safely.

Expert Testimony

Both parties presented testimonies of expert witnesses to support their arguments. Plaintiff retained expert witness Daniel W. O’Neill, a traffic accident reconstructionist and engineer; Kim Busichio, a clinical neurologist to testify regarding Plaintiff’s symptoms, injuries, prognosis, treatment, and future costs; Cynthia Bourbeau, to testify as to Plaintiff’s medical cost projection and life care plan; Estelle R Hutchinson to testify with respect to her vocational assessment of Plaintiff’s employability, lost income and loss in earning capacity due to the incident; Gary Crakes, an economist, to testify with respect to his appraisal of Plaintiff’s economic loss including inter alia, cost of household services and continued care; and Kornelia Teslic to testify the Plaintiff’s injuries and prognosis.
Defendant, on the other hand, brought in Daniel M. McDonough to testify on the dynamics of the accident, sightlines, speed, and direction of the vehicles, the cause of the accident, and other matters. He also brought in Police Officer Christopher Wasilewski, Lieutenant Arthur Weisgerber, Lieutenant Terrence Blake, and Sargent Alexander Tolnay to testify concerning their investigation of the events of the accident on August 28, 2018. He also retained Roshni Patel to testify about her review of medical records that resulted from the collision.

Jury Verdict

On March 5, 2024, the Connecticut jury after careful deliberation rendered the verdict in favor of Defendant Peter J. Boccarossa. The jury found that there had been no negligence on Defendant’s part. Therefore, the Plaintiff was not entitled to any damages. On the same date, Hon. John Riley entered a judgment affirming the verdict for Defendant.

Court Documents:

Complaint

Defense