Discovery that led a Clay County jury to decide UPS should pay $65 million in compensatory damages plus $10 million in interest for a 4-year-old's lifelong care went on for nearly two years.
“It’s a lesson for lawyers who pursue these types of claims that you have to fight the discovery battles or you will never get what you need,” attorney Louis Accurso said.
Accurso represented motorist Jodi Pannell, who was 13 weeks pregnant when she was hit by UPS driver, Steven Ray Miller, 63, who had just completed a stint in rehab for drug abuse, according to media reports.
“If they have evidence in their custody and control and don't turn it over or can't account for it, then you are free to argue to the jury that they either destroyed it or did something with it because they knew that that evidence would be damning against them,” Accurso told the St. Louis Record.
The evidence Accurso allegedly had difficulty retrieving from UPS during the litigation included personnel records, telematics data, and repair records.
Telematics are high-tech sensors attached to delivery trucks that record speed, braking, and location in real time.
“When they gave us documents, they weren't in their native format,” Accurso said. “I actually called a computer forensic e-discovery expert in rebuttal, and he said the stuff is not native. We believe they removed the telematics device, preserved it, and then never gave it to us.”
Pannell’s son, Kaelix, was born in October 2018 and has permanent brain damage, which the jury decided was caused by the collision 5 months prior.
“We took the step of making sure that Kaelix’s funds, if and when they were received, were under court supervision,” Accurso said. “We had a conservator, Midwest Trust, appointed. They'll make sure he has all the funds because he needs a lot of care.”
Of the $65 million in compensatory damages, $16 million is for non-economic damages.
"We put on evidence of $49 million in economic damages to take care of Kaelix for the rest of his life and because I sent a letter to them in 2021 demanding $38 million, there is pre-judgment interest," Accurso said in an interview. "Under that pre-judgment statute, if you exceed the amount of your demand, then they owe that prejudgment interest all the way back."
During his deposition, Accurso learned Miller had struggled with an addiction to crack cocaine.
"He had a bad record of showing up for work," Accurso added. "Now we know why because he was struggling with his addiction. He had gone to rehab three times. The third time was just before this collision. He didn't show up for work, and they fired him. Then, they rehired him to send him to rehab."
Accurso declined to disclose the attorney fees he will receive.