Man is awarded $1.5M in lawsuit vs. PennDOT

The plaintiff suffered permanent brain damage in the crash.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA STAFF
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A West Middlesex man was awarded what is believed to be the highest jury verdict in Lawrence County history.
James Mazzarini Jr., 51, was awarded $1.5 million from a jury of nine women and three men in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court in his lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Mazzarini was severely hurt in a June 16, 2000, car crash on Fairview School Road in Slippery Rock Township, Lawrence County. According to his attorney Lawrence Kelly, Mazzarini swerved to miss a dog and he lost control of his Ford Explorer.
The berm was three inches to seven inches shorter than the road, causing Mazzarini's sport utility vehicle to hit an embankment and roll several times, Kelly said.
Quotable
"The PennDOT maintenance manual says anything beyond two inches in difference between the berm and the roadway is hazardous and could your affect your ability to steer. We argued to the jury that PennDOT violated their own maintenance manual by failing to repair the berm," Kelly said.
Mazzarini said he was moving from his West Middlesex apartment to his mother's home in Slippery Rock Township that day and was on his third trip when the crash occurred. His brother, John, was in the vehicle and suffered a gash to the back of his head.
But Mazzarini's injuries were much more severe and resulted in permanent brain damage, Kelly said. He was hospitalized in Pittsburgh for three weeks, then spent three months at Harmarville Rehabilitation Center and six weeks in a nursing home, his attorney said.
Mazzarini said he also spent time living with his mother and only recently moved back to his own apartment in West Middlesex.
Was a truck driver
Before the crash, Mazzarini worked for eight years as a truck driver for Trinity Industries in Hermitage. But his injuries have left him unable to pass the commercial driver's license physical exam, Kelly said.
"His life has been forever altered. The one thing he loved to do more than anything in this life was work as an over-the-road truck driver," Kelly said. "He enjoyed getting in his truck and driving all over the country."
Mazzarini said he is now interested in studying to be a barber.
The jury awarded Mazzarini $250,000 in lost wages, $500,000 in future lost wages and $750,000 for pain and suffering.
cioffi@vindy.com