The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Monday upheld a $500,000 jury verdict for a Mount Washington man who claimed that friction from his leg rubbing against someone else’s during a cramped limousine ride caused a third-degree burn that required two skin grafts.
Matthew Deivert, 29, sued Pittsburgh Chauffeur LLC. in 2015 for negligence, claiming that the limousine company did not provide a large enough vehicle, and won a unanimous jury verdict in May. In a 2-1 Superior Court opinion, Judge Eugene B. Strassburger adopted the opinion of Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alan Hertzberg, who presided over the trial, and agreed that the award should stand.
According to court documents, Mr. Deivert, a grocery store manager, joined some friends for a birthday celebration Feb. 1, 2014. About 20 people crammed into a limousine meant for 10 for an evening of bar hopping.
Mr. Deivert’s attorney, Richard G. Talarico, said the group consisted of former football players from Mr. Deivert’s alma mater, Allegheny College, and their female friends. The men were large compared to Mr. Deivert, who the court said was 5-foot-5 and weighed less than 150 pounds.
Judge Hertzberg summarized the facts of the case in denying Pittsburgh Chauffeur’s appeal: The limousine ride lasted 20 to 25 minutes, with the car traveling only at about 15 mph. The car was so weighed down, the judge wrote, that it bottomed out going around corners.
"Mr. Deivert's right knee was driven against the knee of the man next to him with such force that it became painful. Of course, he attempted to extricate his leg, but people were so tightly squeezed together that his knee remained wedged in place,” Judge Hertzberg wrote. “He pleaded with people to please move but they were unable to do so. He screamed because the pain on the side of his knee was increasing as he squirmed to try to remove his knee...”
The judge also noted that Mr. Deivert screamed to the driver asking him to stop.
Immediately after getting out of the vehicle, Mr. Deivert pulled his pants down and showed the other passengers a “ ‘softball size red mark’ that ‘looked kind of like a brush burn,' with the top layer of skin removed." The judge noted later in the opinion that the injury appeared to be “gruesome.”
Mr. Talarico said his client’s skin was “literally rubbed down to the bone.” After five days Mr. Deivert sought medical attention and was treated in UPMC Mercy's burn unit.
When medical creams and wrapping the wound didn't heal it, Mr. Deivert had to have cadaver skin surgically applied to it. The next month, he had skin harvested from his right thigh grafted to the wound.
The jury awarded Mr. Deivert $500,000.
Pittsburgh Chauffeur appealed, first to Judge Hertzberg and later to the Superior Court, arguing that Mr. Deivert's medical expert could not provide any foundation to support his opinion that such an injury could be caused in the manner alleged. Instead, the company argued that the injury resulted from some unidentified cause other than the overcrowded limousine.
But in his opinion, Judge Hertzberg noted that the company had its own expert testify at trial, and the jury chose to believe the physician who testified for Mr. Deivert. The judge also said the witnesses on Mr. Deivert’s behalf were credible.
In a dissenting opinion, Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Shogan argued that the opinion of the plaintiff's expert was not based on accepted scientific methodology.
"In short, [the plaintiff’s expert] offered no science in support of his conclusion that a 20-minute ride in a cramped limousine caused a full-thickness wound,” she wrote. “...[H]is testimony strikes me as the ‘best estimate,’ the ‘gut instinct,’ or the ‘educated guess’ of an orthopedic surgeon in the context of a unique fact pattern.”
Pittsburgh Chauffeur’s attorney declined comment.
Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter @PaulaReedWard. Staff writer Jonathan D. Silver contributed.
First Published: April 3, 2018, 9:54 p.m.
