A jury has awarded $1.5 million to a Ridgefield man for damages caused by an exploding tire. It is believed to be one of the largest personal injury awards in the history of Danbury Superior Court.
Factual background: Plaintiff was checking bolts on one of his car’s wheels when the tire exploded. The force of the explosion knocked the Plaintiff into a stone wall. He suffered damages to both his hands and hearing loss in one of his ears.
There are two types of damages in a typical personal injury case:
1) Economic or compensatory damages. These damages are designed to reimburse the victim and to compensate for lost wages, diminished earning capacity, medical expenses and the cost of future anticipated medical expenses. These damages are easier to quantify and therefore tend to be easier to calculate.
2) Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish and permanent disability. These damages are not as easily quantified by a specific dollar amount.
The “tire case” should not be read as an absolute in terms of what damages a Plaintiff may recover in a product liability or negligence case involving hearing loss. Instead, the case illustrates that damages are calculated and evaluated on a case by case basis after consideration of both the economic and non-economic damages.