GEN-Jury Awards $8 Million For Porch FAll

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Jury Awards $8 Million for Porch Fall The Associated Press Published: Apr 21, 2001

SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) - A jury awarded $8 million to a man who was injured in a fall from a porch. With interest, the award to Richard Wagner will exceed $11 million, said his attorney, Thomas Pavics.

Wagner had sought $225,000, and rejected a $75,000 settlement offered by the defendant's insurance carrier, Pavics told the Courier News of Bridgewater.

Wagner, formerly of Manville and now of Jupiter, Fla., sued Donald Curtis over a fall from Curtis' front porch in 1992.

Wagner said Curtis pushed him during an argument. Curtis maintained during the four-day trial that led to Thursday's verdict that Wagner either fell or jumped from the porch.

The plaintiff, a former state corrections officer, had already hurt his back twice before the incident, requiring surgery both times. After the porch fall, he required additional surgery to have vertebrae fused, restricting his movement.

AP-ES-04-21-01 1212EDT

-- Anonymous, April 21, 2001


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