Man wins lawsuit, won’t get full award Auto policy prevents $1.14 million payout

BANGOR – A Carmel man seriously injured when he was struck by a car seven years ago was awarded $1.14 million by a jury in Bangor Wednesday, but he won’t receive that amount.

The jury award – technically $1,140,825 – is the second highest ever handed down in Penobscot County Superior Court, according to a legal official. Unless the defendant, an insurance company, appeals the verdict, Kirk Mellott will receive $300,000, the maximum benefit allowed under the uninsured-motorist clause of an auto policy issued by The Employers’ Fire Insurance Company.

The jury was not told of the maximum payment allowed under the insurance policy. Such information could have exerted too much influence on their decision-making, according to court officials.

The three-day civil trial took place at the Penobscot County Superior Court. Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm presided.

Bangor Attorney Arthur J. Greif represented Mellott. Bangor Attorney David King represented the Employer’s Fire Insurance Company.

A jury found that Mellott, 35, was 30 percent responsible for the Aug. 4, 1993, car-pedestrian accident that occurred late at night on a busy highway in Wrentham, Mass.

Yet evidence presented at the civil trial apparently convinced jurors that driver Edward Black of Massachusetts was more responsible for the accident that occurred as Mellott crossed a four-lane highway on foot, trying to reach a truck stop on the opposite side of the road.

Greif said the verdict was the result of a “good jury, a good judge and a good defense attorney.” Mellot was covered under four different policies – two business policies and two home policies – as well as Worker’s Compensation. All but the Employer’s Fire Insurance Company settled before trial, which mean’s Mellott will receive a total of $870,000, according to Greif.

Defense attorney King of Bangor said a decision had not been reached on whether to appeal the verdict.

His client is a subsidiary of Commercial Union Insurance Companies, a Boston-based organization that has “a great deal of confidence in the jury system,” King said. While the defendant did not question Mellott’s injuries, “it felt this issue of who was at fault had to be presented and decided by a jury,” King said in a telephone interview.

Mellott worked for his father’s towing business. On the day of the accident, he had been sent to Massachusetts to tow a client’s disabled tractor-trailer cab to a designated location.

Around midnight, Mellott parked and walked across the highway to a truck stop for refreshment. He had made it across three lanes and was struck as he walked across the fourth lane by a vehicle driven by Black. It later was determined that Black had a blood-alcohol level of .04 at the time of the accident, not an illegal amount.

Mellott did not use a crosswalk that was nearby. Some discussion took place at the trial as to whether he wore dark clothing. Overhead street lighting apparently was not on when the accident occurred.

However, attorney Greif pointed out the accident occurred on a clear night when a full moon was on display, making visibility easy for motorists. A driver two cars behind Black testified that she saw Mellott crossing the highway before the accident occurred.

Married and expecting a child this winter, Mellott received substantial physical and neurological injuries and is unable to work, according to medical testimony at the trial. After the accident, he was in a coma for 33 days, suffered a broken right leg, a broken right elbow, a broken jaw and a fractured left eye. He had a “horrendous head injury” that continues to disable him, according to Greif.