A jury on Tuesday, May 21 awarded more than $58 million to a Palmdale train yard worker who slipped and fell on top of a train while performing electrical repairs at the Kinkisharyo International train manufacturing yard in 2016.
The Los Angeles Superior Court panel’s total award to Pablo Scipione, now 46, was $58.35 million, which includes $54.15 million in compensatory damages and $4.2 million in punitive damages. Scipione at one time offered to settle for as little as $3 million.
According to the lawsuit filed in January 2018, Scipione was working as an independent contractor for Altech Services when he was called into work at 2 a.m. Feb. 2, 2016, and told by his supervisor that the repairs had to be completed by 5 a.m. After taking only a few steps, he slipped and suffered a fracture in his left foot.
“Kinkisharyo tried everything possible to downplay the severity of our client’s injuries,” said plaintiff’s attorney Alexander R. Wheeler. “The jury saw through their failed tactics and understood the pain our client deals with every day.”
Scipione went back to work the next day and worked full-time for nearly a year and a half. Two months after his fall, he visited a foot doctor for the first time and received surgery and was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome, a debilitating disease that forced him out of work.
Kinkisharyo was responsible for ensuring every employee’s safety, but the company required a far too demanding pace of work, showing indifference to the workers’ safety and proper safety protocols, the suit alleged.
“An injury this severe was bound to happen,” said another plaintiff’s attorney, Khail A. Parris. “Employees frequently complained to supervisors that the station was poorly lit, and yet nothing was done to ensure a safe working environment.”
Kinkisharyo disputed liability and argued that Scipione’s claims belonged in the workers’ compensation arena.
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