Laffit awarded $2.7 million

[46zilzal]

Huntington ambulance was held accountable in mis-treatment after his fall at Anita. Every first aid attendant knows that with falls the FIRST thing you do is C-spine stabilization until radiology negates the need for it. He could have wound up a paralgegic.......
http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=38841

[Juror]

Interesting thread. I was actually on this jury panel. What makes the final judgement interesting is the claim by Pincay's lawyer that Huntington Ambulance is what actually caused the end of Pincay's career.

There was little doubt Huntington Ambulance should have c-spined Pincay but the defense showed Pincay's history of refusing treatment (c-spine) even in previous cases and tried to prove that a competent adult refusing treatment cannot be forced to do so: Pincay admitted he wanted to stand up so his wife could see he was OK. Was it Huntington's responsibility to force him against his will? The jury was not clear about this but did feel Huntington should have done a more thorough assessment before helping him to his feet. Also the jury felt Huntington should have made Pincay sign a disclaimer although these often do not hold up in court anyhow.

The $2.7 million represents lost earnings. How do you project earnings on a world class winning jockey who is much older than almost all of his rivals yet near the top of his game still? How many years left did a 56 year old jockey who was in outstanding health have left in him? Pincay's lawyer projected at least 6 if not 9 years. He even asked the defense's economist to project out 10 or 11 years.

This was an interesting case. I knew very little about horse racing prior to three weeks ago. My curiosity brought me to your discussion page.

At face value, $2.7 million may seem fair but the case was actually more complicated than a few EMTs not doing their job properly. We were instructed not to 'punish' Huntington. Rather, we were to told to come to a dollar figure for both economical (lost and future earnings) and non-economical damages (pain and suffering). The odd thing is that neither the plaintiff or defense ever mentioned pain and suffering other than the fact that Pincay has an extremely high tolerance for pain.

Knowing very little about jockeys, how many break their necks (with perfect medical care) at age 56 or older and resume the same success after they heal? I was surprised to learn how many injuries jockeys sustain but how often do they break their necks? Or worse?

[JustRalph]

so you chose "Juror" as your moniker? Interesting. Thanks for chiming in.

[Ron]

It sounds like you are hinting that Pincay was awarded too much.

[RobinFromIreland]

Very good first post, thanks.

[Juror]

Yes, while trying to be objective in my post I think you can tell that I believe $2.7 million was too much. But obviously if that is the number we agreed on there must have been some others who felt it was too little.

You have to understand that as jurors we were given a somewhat ridiculous task: Try to calculate how much Laffit Pincay would have earned for the rest of his career had the ambulance company done its job correctly. Can anyone tell me when he might have retired? At 10,000 wins? When some type of jockeys' pension kicked in at age 59? Or would he still have been the same rider afterwards after taking that fall (granted that he had been immobilized)?

Then throw in 'experts' on each side saying he could have made as little as one million for the rest of his career or perhaps over 6 million. You can guess which side was lobbying for which amount.

And to top it off we were told to include "pain and suffering" but not given any idea how much of a price tag to put on it. Some of the jurors did feel sympathy for Pincay's plight but I am pretty sure that none of us were aware that he had already settled with the physician's assistant who treated him that day. I now know that the settlement for that was another seven digit amount which was made last year.

Then take into account that the twelve jurors were chosen mainly because we had little or no knowledge of horse racing. I feel like a moron now but I had never heard the name, Laffit Pincay, before a month ago. I suppose it is the equivalent of not knowing Michael Jordan in basketball.

It is a moot point now but I would be curious how much of a remaining career some of you Laffit fans believe he had left - given that he probably fractured his neck to some extent in that fall. Of course you would have to put all loyalty to him aside. I have to admit that he seems like a pretty likeable person after seeing him every day for almost two weeks and listening to him testify.