Paralyzed Hartford warehouse worker asks CT Supreme Court to revive record verdict

A Hartford warehouse worker who won a $100 million jury verdict after being paralyzed on the job is asking Connecticut’s highest court to revive the award after an appeals court overturned it. Juan Cruz and his wife, Emily, petitioned the state Supreme Court on July 22 to review a June 2 Appellate Court decision that threw out their verdict against Signify North America Corp., the lighting company formerly known as Philips Lighting North America. The state Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to hear the case, according to court records. The dispute centers on whether Signify could reasonably have anticipated that shipping an unsecured load of lights could lead to an injury like Cruz’s. The Appellate Court ruled June 2 that it could not, leaving the Cruzes with no award against the company unless that ruling is overturned. Cruz was working at Rexel USA’s Capitol Light warehouse on Locust Street in Hartford on Sept. 19, 2017, when a roughly 1,300-pound load of lights fell from a high storage rack and struck him, leaving him paralyzed below the waist, according to court records. A temporary worker driving a type of forklift in a neighboring aisle had bumped the load, which Signify had delivered to the warehouse five days earlier. The Cruzes argued Signify was negligent because it failed to secure the lights to their pallet with stretch wrap, creating a safety hazard. Both Signify’s own policy and Rexel’s shipping requirements called for the loads to be wrapped. A Hartford Superior Court jury sided with the Cruzes in October 2022, and awarded $100 million in damages. The verdict, won by Glastonbury-based Connecticut Trial Firm, was believed at the time to be the largest bodily injury award in Connecticut history. The jury assigned 90% of the responsibility to Signify and 10% to the temporary worker. Superior Court Judge Stuart Rosen later reduced the amount Signify owed to about $41.9 million, which the Cruzes accepted. But the Appellate Court ruled Signify was not legally responsible for Cruz’s injuries. Rexel accepted the unsecured load and placed it on a top storage shelf, the court noted, despite testimony that the warehouse inspected deliveries and would not put unsafe loads on its racks. The temporary worker later bumped the load while retrieving another product with the forklift. The court said Signify’s responsibility had to be judged by what it could reasonably have anticipated before the accident, rather than by looking back after it happened. The Cruzes’ lawyers argue that reasoning conflicts with earlier state Supreme Court decisions. They say a company can be held responsible if it could reasonably have anticipated the general danger — in this case, an unsecured load falling and injuring someone — even if it could not have predicted exactly how the accident would unfold. They also argue it was the jury’s job to decide whether Signify could have anticipated that danger. The jury heard the evidence and found Signify 90% responsible, they said, and the appeals court had no basis to overturn that finding. “A jury recognized Signify’s responsibility for the harm it caused,” Jonathan Taylor, an attorney with Washington, D.C.-based Gupta Wessler who represents the Cruzes, said in a statement. “We are asking the Connecticut Supreme Court to restore that verdict and ensure that companies cannot escape responsibility for creating preventable dangers.” Signify’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Connecticut Trial Firm, founded by Andrew Garza and Ryan McKeen in 2016, no longer exists. The partners had a falling-out after the verdict. McKeen left the firm in May 2024, and Garza dissolved it in December of that year. Garza’s new firm, Farmington-based Claggett Sykes & Garza, represents the Cruzes along with East Haddam-based Taylor & Levesque, and Gupta Wessler. McKeen declined to comment, referring questions to the Cruzes’ current lawyers and David Shaiken, the court-appointed attorney winding down Connecticut Trial Firm. Shaiken declined to comment.