Woman wins appeal in chair collapse case
Posted: Thursday, September 20, 2007
DES MOINES (AP) -- A woman who suffered back and leg injuries when a chair collapsed won reinstatement of a $725,000 jury award Wednesday from the Iowa Court of Appeals.
Jacqueline Triplett, who worked as a hostess at Bluffs Run Casino in Council Bluffs, was attending a rally at her work place on April 23, 2002, when a chair collapsed and sent her falling to the ground.
She suffered intense leg and back pain, underwent spinal surgeries and had to take medication for pain, court documents said.
Triplett, 69, filed a lawsuit against McCourt Manufacturing Corp., the manufacturer of the chair, and Fund Ways Inc., also known as Tom's Rental-Tops Rental, the company that rented the chair to her employer, for the injuries to her back and leg.
In April 2006, after a three-day trial, a jury awarded her $725,000, which included compensation for medical expenses, loss of use of her full body and pain and suffering. The jury verdict included $296,000 for future pain and suffering.
A Pottawattamie County judge ruled that the jury's award for future pain and suffering was beyond the limits of fair compensation, flagrantly excessive and was not supported by the evidence.
He reduced the future pain and suffering award to $100,000 for a total award of $529,000. He said Triplett should return the difference -- $196,000 -- within 30 days or a new trial should be held.
The appeals court said Iowa courts have established that fixing the amount of damages is a jury function and courts should not set them aside merely because they would reach a different conclusion.
The appeals court said there was ample evidence to support the jury's award.
"The fact that the court reduced the judgment, without articulating any basis for its own calculation of future pain and suffering, suggests the court supplanted its damage total for that of the jury," the appeals court ruling said. "Because we find no reasonable basis for the court's conclusion that Tripplet's future pain and suffering was worth less than that awarded by the jury, we find the court's order ... was an abuse of discretion."
The appeals court ordered the damage award restored to the original amount.
Documents in a 2005 workers' compensation case said Triplett retired and moved to Florida in 2003.
Jacqueline Triplett, who worked as a hostess at Bluffs Run Casino in Council Bluffs, was attending a rally at her work place on April 23, 2002, when a chair collapsed and sent her falling to the ground.
She suffered intense leg and back pain, underwent spinal surgeries and had to take medication for pain, court documents said.
Triplett, 69, filed a lawsuit against McCourt Manufacturing Corp., the manufacturer of the chair, and Fund Ways Inc., also known as Tom's Rental-Tops Rental, the company that rented the chair to her employer, for the injuries to her back and leg.
In April 2006, after a three-day trial, a jury awarded her $725,000, which included compensation for medical expenses, loss of use of her full body and pain and suffering. The jury verdict included $296,000 for future pain and suffering.
A Pottawattamie County judge ruled that the jury's award for future pain and suffering was beyond the limits of fair compensation, flagrantly excessive and was not supported by the evidence.
He reduced the future pain and suffering award to $100,000 for a total award of $529,000. He said Triplett should return the difference -- $196,000 -- within 30 days or a new trial should be held.
The appeals court said Iowa courts have established that fixing the amount of damages is a jury function and courts should not set them aside merely because they would reach a different conclusion.
The appeals court said there was ample evidence to support the jury's award.
"The fact that the court reduced the judgment, without articulating any basis for its own calculation of future pain and suffering, suggests the court supplanted its damage total for that of the jury," the appeals court ruling said. "Because we find no reasonable basis for the court's conclusion that Tripplet's future pain and suffering was worth less than that awarded by the jury, we find the court's order ... was an abuse of discretion."
The appeals court ordered the damage award restored to the original amount.
Documents in a 2005 workers' compensation case said Triplett retired and moved to Florida in 2003.
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