By Mary Ann Miller, T-R Staff Correspondent
Canton Ohio Newspaper
CARROLLTON – A Canton man and his wife were awarded $1.5 million by a Carroll County Common Pleas Court jury Wednesday, believed to be the biggest such decision in the county’s history.
John and Doris Popick had sued Louisville Ladder Co. of Louisville, Ky., for $2.5 million. The Popicks claimed that it was the company’s detective scaffolding that caused John Popick to fall 40 feet onto a pile of clay rubble, totally disabling him.
He suffered eight broken ribs, total hearing loss in one ear and partial in the other, and has undergone brain surgery three times since then.
Popick got $1.15 million and his wife another $350,000. The three-man, five-woman jury In Judge Tom Richards’ courtroom heard testimony for six days, then spent close to four hours before returning the verdict.
“We are gratified the jury returned this verdict, and are particularly satisfied to dispel the myth In the minds of the legal community that a Carroll County jury would never return a substantial verdict in a personal injury case,” said one of Popick’s attorneys, Allan Schulman of Canton.
He said the community’s conservative reputation among lawyers made many doubt it would ever happen. Popick also was represented by Mary A. Falvey of Canton and Charles Lipcon, a Miami, Florida personal injury specialist.
