 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Snow v. Villacci6/30/2000
Reporter of Decisions
Argued: April 4, 2000
Robert Villacci and Gene Villacci d/b/a Villacci Motor Sales, appeal from a judgment in favor of Richard Snow entered in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Cole, J.), following the court's denial of Villacci's motion for partial summary judgment. Villacci's appeal requires us to determine whether a plaintiff in a tort action may recover damages that are in the nature of a "lost earning opportunity." Because we conclude that damages of this nature may be recovered when proven to have been proximately caused by the negligence of the defendant, we affirm the judgment.
I. BACKGROUND
In 1996, Snow took his vehicle to the Villacci facility for repairs. When Robert Villacci mistakenly started Snow's vehicle while it was in gear, he pinned Snow between the car and a workbench. Snow sustained significant injuries to his legs and lost approximately fourteen weeks of work at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, an investment firm. He then brought suit against Villacci, alleging that Robert Villacci's negligence was the proximate cause of his injuries and damages. Among the damages sought by Snow were those that he referred to as "a lost earning opportunity" resulting from the setback in his career training efforts.
Snow's lost opportunity claim arose out of his anticipated progress in a professional training program. At the time of the injury, Snow was working toward a designation as a financial consultant-essentially a stockbroker position. He was in month twenty of Merrill Lynch's twenty-five-month program. Progress toward the program's goals was measured on a quarterly basis. With five months left in the program at the time of his injuries, Snow had not achieved the goals, and his successful completion of the program was possible but not assured. According to Snow, even though he was allowed an extension to complete the program after he was injured, his brief absence from the program set him back and prevented him from successfully meeting the programs goals. At the completion of the program, he had not met the program's goals and was not invited to become a financial consultant.
Although Snow did not complete the program, Merrill Lynch did retain him as an investment associate, a position which allowed Snow to earn substantial income, but not the level of income he had anticipated. Snow asserted that he would not be permitted to undertake the Merrill Lynch Financial Consultant Program again and that a non-competition agreement he had signed would prevent him from becoming a stockbroker with another company. He claimed, therefore, that although he is able to earn income as an investment associate, he lost an opportunity for substantially higher income as a financial consultant.
As a consequence, although Snow currently suffers no continuing physical or mental impairment or other disability caused by Villacci's negligence, he asserts that the weeks of lost work in 1996 have resulted in a current and prospective loss of an opportunity to increase his earnings.
Villacci moved for partial summary judgment regarding Snow's claim for lost earning opportunity, asserting that Snow sought recovery for a type of damage that has not been and should not be recognized in Maine. The court determined that there were material facts in dispute, impliedly determining that a claim for "lost earning opportunity" was not precluded as a matter of law, and denied the motion for partial summary judgment. Thereafter, the parties entered a stipulation resolving all outstanding claims in order to allow an appeal of the issue of law raised by the defendants. The stip
Page 1 2 3 4 Maine Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|