A federal judge from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has ruled that its admonishment of an attorney representing Cornell University in a case in which the school was sued for negligence by a gymnast, does not equate to enough evidence to set aside the verdict of a jury favoring Cornell.
The incident in question occurred on October 12, 2006 when plaintiff Randall Duchesneau attempted a backwards jumping maneuver on a TumblTrak gymnastics training apparatus, and landed squarely in the center of the apparatus, causing him to suffer catastrophic, permanent spinal injuries. The injuries rendered him a quadriplegic, who is totally defendant on a motorized, reclined wheelchair.
Two years later, Duchesneau sued Cornell and the manufacturer, alleging negligence and products liability.
In November 2012, a federal jury ruled that the university was not legally responsible for the accident, and Duchesneau was denied compensatory damages.
At issue in the instant opinion was a “waiver and assumption of risk agreement” that Duchesneau signed in March 2006 and the court’s decision to make the signed waiver portion void as against public policy, allowing the jury to see only the document’s risk portion.
Duchesneau moved for a new trial, arguing that Cornell’s counsel used a multi-day “strategy” to influence the jury with the agreement’s “inadmissible and highly prejudicial” waiver portion.
While admitting that the litigation “has been colored by the unnecessarily vitriolic behavior of counsel,” the court refused to schedule a new trial.
“(D)ue to the jury’s finding that defendant Cornell University was not negligent, any error in this case was harmless, wrote the court. “Furthermore, this court cannot hold that defense counsel’s conduct made it ‘reasonably probable’ that the verdict was influenced by prejudicial statements.”
The court also brushed aside Duchesneau’s claim that the attorney “repeatedly” engaged in a “pattern of misconduct” throughout the 18-day trial.
“Though these comments could not be categorized as ‘benign,’ as defense counsel suggests, they were not so egregious or pervasive as to be considered a pattern of misconduct.”
Duchesneau v. Cornell University and Tumbltrak; E.D. Pa.; Civil Action No. 08-4856
Attorneys of Record: (for plaintiff) Stewart J. Eisenberg, Daniel Joseph Sherry, Jr., Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck P.C., Philadelphia, PA. (for defendants) Allen R. Bunker, Comeau & Bunker, Daniel J. McCarthy, Susan R. Engle, Mintzer, Sarowitz, Zeris, Ledva & Meyers LLP, Philadelphia, PA.
