Court upholds most of $3M award to injured AT&T worker

A Louisiana appeals court upheld a multimillion award to an AT&T worker who was severely injured by the actions of a drilling company.

In Thibodeaux v. GulfGate Construction LLC, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit on Thursday unanimously held that John Thibodeaux was entitled to more than $3 million, but slightly reduced the jury award for future earnings.

On June 9, 2015, Mr. Thibodeaux injured his right leg while splicing fiber optic cable for AT&T in a Lafayette, Louisiana. On the day of his incident, he lifted a hand hole cover for an underground vault when the ground gave way beneath him, causing his right leg to fall into a hole, leading to his injuries. Prior to the incident, J.M. Drilling, based in Jackson, Tennessee, had been performing work on the property under separate contracts with AT&T. The complaint alleged that J.M. Drilling struck an underground sewer force main line during the course of its work, causing washout that formed the hole Mr. Thibodeaux fell into on the day of the accident.

Mr. Thibodeaux filed claims against J.M. Drilling, among others, and moved for summary judgment on the issue of liability against J.M., which was granted. The suit proceeded to a jury trial, which awarded Mr. Thibodeaux $500,000 in future medical expenses, nearly $2.3 million in lost future earning capacity, $90,000 in loss of household services and $150,000 in loss of consortium to his wife. J.M. appealed.

The Louisiana Court of Appeals affirmed the decision, but reduced the award by about $125,000.

Although J.M. argued that genuine issues of material fact exist as to the cause of the hole, the appellate court disagreed, holding that the depositions and exhibits in the record painted a clear picture of what happened to cause the sinkhole. J.M. also contested the damages, arguing that the jury abused its discretion in granted excessive awards. While the court disagreed with the jury’s determinations on damages for future medical expenses and loss of consortium, it held that the jury did err with regards to its calculation of future loss of earning capacity.

The court noted that the record contained two competing experts regarding Mr. Thibodeaux’s future earning capacity, finding that there was nothing in the record to support the higher award, and thereby reduced the award for loss of future earning capacity to $2.152 million.

J.M. Drilling and the attorneys in the case did not immediately respond to calls for comment.