On October 15, 2015, a Newport Superior Court jury awarded a 63-year-old commercial fisherman and his wife a combined $2,080,000 in compensation for severe injuries sustained by the fisherman while using a crane at a commercial fishing dock in Little Compton, Rhode Island in April 2013. In the incident, the fisherman’s right arm was pulled into the machine, which traumatically amputated it below the elbow.
Lead counsel Mark Decof, senior trial lawyer and principal shareholder of Decof, Barry, Mega & Quinn, P.C., assisted by attorney and second chair Michael Quinn, successfully argued to the jury that the crane was negligently maintained, due to the fact that a rope used on the machine was deteriorated and should not have been in service.
The two defendant companies who owned and staffed the commercial fishing dock that housed the crane denied liability throughout the trial.
The trial lasted two weeks and the jury deliberated for two days before delivering the verdict.