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Daytona Beach, FL— Jurors Tuesday awarded more than $10 million to the parents of a Florida pedestrian who was struck and killed by an RV in 2019. Branen v. La Mesa RV Center, et al., 2019-CICI-31641.
The Volusia County jury, in Florida's Seventh Judicial Circuit, deliberated less than two hours before finding Ronald Scirrotto and his employer at the time, La Mesa RV Center, responsible for fatally hitting 29-year-old Jacob Branen.
Jurors also concluded Branen himself was not negligent in the incident.
Tuesday's $10.03 million award, which includes $5 million to each of Branen’s parents, exceeds the roughly $8 million that plaintiff's attorneys specifically suggested during closings.
It also exceeds the defendants’ highest pre-trial settlement offer of $1.5 million, Searcy Denney’s Brian Denney, who, along with Searcy’s Matthew Schwencke, represents the Branen family, told CVN.
Branen was struck by the side mirror of an RV driven by Scirrotto as Branen walked to work along Williamson Blvd. in Daytona Beach. Branen’s family claims Scirrotto left his lane and hit Branen, while Scirrotto claims Branen walked into the RV's path on the road.
A central element of the six-day trial was testimony from an eyewitness, Mary Wynans, who was driving near the RV at the time of the collision.
During Tuesday’s closings, La Mesa’s attorney, Bromagen Rathett Klee & Smith’s Brooks Rathett, highlighted Wynans' testimony concerning the distance between her vehicle and Scirrotto's RV. He reminded jurors that Wynans never said the distance between the two vehicles increased in the moments before the accident. That, Rathett said, proved Scirrotto never left his lane.
“If he left his lane they would have been farther apart and she would have said something, but she didn’t,” Rathett said. “That’s because the entire time, Ron Scirrotto was in his lane.”
But Denney noted in closings that Wynans remembered seeing Branen walking along the roadway’s shoulder, facing traffic, as required by state law. And Denney pointed out that Wynans remembered Scirrotto saying immediately after the accident that he didn’t realize he’d struck Branen.
Those statements, Denney said, combined with physical evidence surrounding the collision, proved Scirrotto was completely at fault.
“RVs are never, ever supposed to violate the right-of-way of a pedestrian. Ever,” Denney told jurors. “Because if you do it, people are going to get killed. And that’s what happened in this case, as much as they want you to believe it happened some other way.”
After the verdict, Denney told CVN he believed testimony concerning the impact of Branen's loss on his parents, combined with the timing of his death, occurring just before his father's birthday, played a key role in the jury's $10 million award.
"Every single year since Jacob's death, what was supposed to be a happy time for the family, turns into this almost memorial for Jacob," Denney said. "It's just a constant reminder to [his parents]."
And Schwencke told CVN he believes Branen's family took particular solace in the jury's conclusion that Branen wasn't negligent.
"I was holding [Branen's mother's] hand the whole time [the verdict was read], and when they said no [on the question of Branen's negligence], she squeezed my hand really tight," Schwencke said. "I know it was really important to the family for the jury to say he didn't do anything wrong."
CVN has reached out to the defense’s legal team and will update this article with their comments.
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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