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Jacksonville, FL— Jurors last week issued a $2.5 million punitive verdict against a Florida man for his role in the crash-related death of a 21-year-old woman, bringing the total award in the case to $12.8 million. Behr v. Cerda, 2023-CA-001097.
Last Wednesday’s punitive award capped proceedings over the 2023 death of Nell Behr from a head-on collision with Ramon Cerda, in Duval County, Florida. Cerda had been drinking at a Jacksonville bar before the crash, and, following a guilty plea to DUI manslaughter, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for Behr's death.
Cerda had admitted liability for the crash. Trial in the damages-only case was heard before two separate juries, with the compensatory phase wrapping with a $10.3 million verdict two weeks ago, before the three-day punitive phase opened last Monday.
That punitive phase included Cerda, still still serving his prison sentence, testifying at trial, and focused on what, if any, amount should be awarded to punish him for his conduct.
During Wednesday’s closings, Cerda’s attorney, Cole Scott & Kissane’s Daniel Shapiro, reminded jurors that Cerda was already serving prison time as punishment for his conduct. And he urged jurors to consider Cerda’s limited financial resources, and not be swayed by emotion or sympathy, when issuing their punitive verdict.
“This wasn’t some CEO of a company that was out, and drank, and killed somebody. That’d be a different situation,” Shapiro said. “This is not somebody with… money.”
But the Behr family’s attorney, Scolaro Law’s Thomas Scolaro, walked jurors through the catastrophic fallout of Cerda’s conduct, and reminded jurors of evidence that Cerda had regularly driven while drunk, when arguing that a high punitive award was warranted.
“He knew he was playing Russian roulette with people’s lives. And it just so happened… to be Nell Behr’s turn,” Scolaro said. “That conduct needs to be punished.”
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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