WILKES-BARRE
- Maruja Arce was as happy about the jury finding she committed
no negligence in the death of her 3-year-old daughter, Joann
Torres as she was about the damage award of $1.7 million,
her lawyer said Tuesday.
"That's
why she went through this," attorney Robert J. Powell said.
"She went through 17 months of anguish, questioning herself
and wondering if she was to blame."
The
jury, late Monday night found Judith McGuinness, 74, of Drums,
was negligent when her car struck and killed the child on
North Church Street near Fern Street in Hazleton on Dec. 16,1997.
Attorney
Edward McNelis filed a wrongful death and survival complaint
on behalf of Arce on Oct. 21, 1998. The case was subsequently
turned over to the Powell Law Firm. In
November, the lawyer for McGuinness filed a cross claim suing
Arce and alleging she was negligent in supervising the child
while attempting to cross the heavily traveled street.
Attorney
Thomas Comerford, who represented McGuinness through her insurance
company, asked to withdraw the cross claim on the first day
of the trial but the request was denied because Arce said
no. "All
parties had to agree to withdrawal of the additional defendant
claim," Powell said. "Maruja said she wanted her reputation
back and trusted a jury to decide."
Powell
said, "Justice was served. This was a woman in anguish who
had the courage to get on the stand and withstand cross examination.
She told the truth and the jury understood."
The
jury awarded the girl's estate $150,000 for pain and suffering
prior to her death and $650,000 for her lost earning capacity
based on a projected life expectancy of 77 years. A financial
expert estimated she could have earned anywhere between $227,000
and $1.5 million during her full lifetime.
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The
mother was awarded $700,000 for past and future pain and suffering.
Her oldest daughter, Amanda, 7, who witnessed the tragedy, was
awarded $200,000 for past and future emotional distress.
Attorney
Neil O'Donnell represented Arce on the additional defendant
claim. "Neil did a great job in representing her," Powell said.
"I'm proud of everyone on our trial team. We loved having her
as a client and were proud to represent her."
Regarding
payment of the jury award, Powell said, "That's an issue to
be discussed between representatives of the insurance company
and us.
Asked
about the possibility of the damage awards being appealed, Powell
said, "We have a dead little girl. The jury accounted for that
and the emotional distress of the people forced to see that."
"This
was an extremely even trial. They could appeal based on errors
of law. I expect they will look for something, but I see nothing
there."
The
mother said she was holding her daughter's hand when the little
girl took one step off the curb and was snatched from her grasp
by the impact with the right front bumper of the defendant's
car.
McGuinness
said she was watching the road and saw no one standing on the
sidewalk. She claimed the victim ran into the passenger side
fender of her car.
Testimony revealed McGuinness suffered from severely impaired
vision. Records of eye doctors showed she was essentially blind
in her left eye and experienced occasional blurry vision of
the right eye because of a developing cataract.
The
plaintiff's lawyers alleged she avoided eye doctor appointments
for four years because she was afraid of losing her driver's
license. They claimed she was negligent for driving at night
while visually impaired.
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