A Brooklyn jury has ordered Verizon to pay $40.8 million to a man left brain damaged and partially paralyzed after being struck by one of the company’s trucks.
Matthew Falcone, 53, was in a coma for weeks following the September 2006 incident in which he was hit by a Verizon vehicle going 50 mph in a 30-mph zone on Stillwell Avenue in Gravesend.
Verizon had tried to claim that Falcone was at fault, having only been hit by the vehicle’s side-view mirror when he stuck his head out into the road from behind an elevated train pillar.
But the jury of six dismissed the argument late Wednesday after seeing photos of the truck’s shattered windshield and headlights, which indicated the collision was much more severe, said Falcone’s lawyer, Thomas Moore.
Verizon said it was reviewing the decision.