A
Luzerne County jury found Judith McGuinness, 74, was negligent
when her car struck and killed Joann Torres, and awarded damages
totaling $1.7 million.
WILKES-BARRE
- A jury Monday night found Judith McGuinness of drums was
negligent when her car struck and killed 3-year-old Joann
Torres on North Church Street in Hazleton on Dec. 16, 1997
and awarded damages totaling $1,700,000.
The
verdict, reached at 10:30 p.m. after almost five hours of
deliberations, ended a four-day civil lawsuit trial before
Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan.
The
jury found no negligence by the victim's mother, Maruja Arce,
named an additional defendant by the defendant's lawyer, who
alleged she was culpable for not properly supervising the
safety of her daughter.
The
victim's estate was awarded $150,000 for pain and suffering
prior to her death and $650,000 for lost earning capacity.
An expert had estimated her life expectancy at 77 years. The
mother was awarded $400,000 for pain and suffering and $300,000
for future pain and suffering. Her daughter, Amanda, 7, who
witnessed the tragedy, was awarded $100,000 for past pain
and suffering and $100,000 for future pain and suffering.
Lawyers
representing Arce, 24, of 52 N. Laurel St., alleged that McGuinness,
74, of 220 Four Seasons Drive, Beech Mountain Lakes, was visually
impaired and hadn't turned on her car's headlights. They said
she was virtually blind in her left eye from a childhood injury
and suffered from decreased peripheral vision of the right
eye.
They
claimed the young victim was "knocked out of her shoes" by
the car's right front bumper after she had taken one step
off a curb into a crosswalk beneath a street light at Fern
Street.
Defense
lawyer Thomas Comerford admitted his client's left eye vision
was 20/200 but said her right eye vision was 20/20 when she
wore her glasses. He said she was licensed to drive and, by
law, needed to be able to see with one eye to drive.
He
questioned why the victim was the only member of a party of
six people to be in the street and how a 3-year-old takes
one step off a curb and advances a "quarter of the way across
into the front of a vehicle."
Comerford
said, 'I think Joann got excited, ran into the street and
into the side of vehicle."
The
mother said her right hand had hold of Joann and she was holding
the hand of her daughter, Amanda, with her left hand as they
prepared to cross the street. A cousin, Luis Ruiz, who was
visiting from Puerto Rico, had her youngest daughter, Christine,
1 1/2, by the hand and was carrying her infant son, Edwin,
she said.
The
family said they were walking to a pizza parlor and decided
to cross to see a lighted Christmas tree in a nearby park.
McGuinness
said she was wearing her bifocals and had turned on the headlights
when she left the Giant Market to go to visit her husband,
who was hospitalized.
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She said she was watching the road and looking ahead to the
traffic light at Diamond Avenue and didn't see six people standing
on the curb.
She
said she heard a thumping noise coming from the side of her
vehicle, swerved, stopped in the southbound lane and looked
back.
McGuinness
said she took Arce, who had picked up her injured daughter and
pleaded for a ride to a hospital, to Hazleton-St. Joseph Medical
Center.
A
police accident reconstruction expert placed the point of impact
at the intersection. McGuinness, while testifying, said the
accident could have happened before the intersection.
Comerford
contended, "We have a general zone of where the accident occurred
but no physical evidence to pinpoint the exact locale." Comerford
maintained the girl ran into the side of the car and was knocked
violently to the ground, striking her head and suffering a fatal
skull fracture. Arce
said her daughter's head was on the curb and her body was on
the street when she picked her up.
Arce
filed a wrongful death and survival lawsuit in October 1998.
Attorney Robert Powell is representing her. The
defendant's lawyer filed a cross claim in November.
Attorney
Neil O'Donnell, who represented Arce as an additional defendant,
contended the cross claim was a litigation tactic aimed to put
the mother through 17 months of psychological terror. He said
Comerford
asked to end the action on the first day of the trial, but the
judge denied the request. Comerford maintained the purpose of
the cross claim was to determine if Arce was negligent in supervising
the child.
"We
offered to withdraw it because we felt we had no evidence to
show she was," he stated.
O'Donnell
claimed McGuinness came forward with four new facts when she
testified on Friday. He said she claimed Ruiz had threatened
her but she never told that to police and that Ruiz wasn't asked
about the alleged threats when he testified.
She
claimed the intersection wasn't the accident scene but didn't
tell anyone, he said, and that her claim the mother carrying
the victim came from behind her car wasn't reported to investigators
or mentioned in her deposition.
Finally,
he said she claimed the hood of a jacket worn by one of the
children was up. O'Donnell
asserted, "If you don't see the children, how could you see
the hood. The hood was down. She was thinking on her feet."
O'Donnell
described McGuinness as a "non-compliant patient" who didn't
go back to an eye doctor after a 1996 visit determined she was
developing cataracts of both eyes. McGuinness
driving at night was a time bomb. O'Donnell said, "This defendant
gambled and Joann Torres lost."
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