Man who lost use of limbs awarded $16m

A Suffolk County jury awarded more than $16 million yesterday to a Boston man who lost the use of his arms and legs after he was hit by a car while crossing a street two years ago.

The verdict was one of the largest awards by a jury for a personal injury case in the state this year, lawyers said, and was more than double the largest amount awarded by a jury last year for a personal injury case.

Yesterday, the jury awarded $13,129,671 to the plaintiff, William Dodge. With interest, the award will total more than $16 million, according to lawyers for Dodge, 42, a former executive chef and manager for a Boston law firm.

The verdict followed an eight-day trial in Suffolk Superior Court in which lawyers for Dodge argued that Arda Tezel was speeding when he hit Dodge, who was crossing in a crosswalk on Bridge Street near the Salem commuter rail station in April 2005.

Dodge fractured his spine, which left him a quadriplegic, his lawyer said. After the crash, he spent three weeks at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the following year in rehabilitation.

"He requires assistance to do just about everything in life," said Dodge's lawyer, James Gotz of the Boston firm Kreindler & Kreindler. "His medical expenses to date are upwards of three-quarters of a million dollars."

Tezel did not appear in court during the trial and was back home in Turkey, Gotz said. A lawyer for Tezel could not be reached.

Police officials have filed a criminal complaint against Tezel for speeding and driving to endanger. A warrant for Tezel's arrest has been issued because he has not appeared in court, Gotz said.

"The defense in the case said that it was a very, very dark and rainy day and Mr. Tezel couldn't see Bill Dodge," Gotz said. "There was expert testimony from the defense that he was not speeding, but the jury rejected all of those defenses."

Some legal professionals said that any award in the state of more than $10 million was unusual and that verdicts of that size have only been awarded a couple of times each year.

"That's an eye-opening verdict," said David Yas, editor in chief of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. "It's always hard to prove a case where you're seeking millions of dollars, because juries are skeptical, juries can be stingy, and juries can be reluctant."

Other personal injury lawyers said the amount awarded to Dodge was appropriate for the circumstances of the case.

"The verdict was not at all out of line for a claim involving someone who's been paralyzed and when there are injuries that cause someone to be unable to work or in need of medical care for the rest of their life," said Andrew C. Meyer Jr., an attorney at Lubin & Meyer.

The next step, Gotz said, will be to try to collect the award from Tezel. But because he is currently living in Turkey, collecting the money will be a challenge, Meyer said.