Plaintiff Awarded $2m In Court After Being Attacked By A Co-Worker

On September 11, 2012, Plaintiff Gabriel Alfonso was brutally attacked by a co-worker. About 9 days earlier, that atacker was arrested for threatening Plaintiff and another employee. After the attacker was released from jail, he admittedly wanted to "get back at" Plaintiff for having him arrest. Plaintiff reported his concerns to the employer, but the employer allowed the attacker to return to work after imposing a short "colling off" period. Plaintiff's injuries included multiple facial fractures, orbital fracutre and mild traumatic brain injury. Plaintiff was also diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and received consistent psychological counseling in connection with the incident. 

Plaintiff sued the employer for negligence and for failure to take reasonable measures to prevent violence. Throughout the case, the Defendants claimed that Plaintiff was faking and/or exaggerating his injuries, even though the victim's own treaters confirmed the severity of the injuries and the pain that Plaintiff was dealing with. I can imagine that accusing Plaintiff of faking his injuries, given the traumatic nature of his injuries, angered the jury and contributed to the generous award in this case. The Solano County jury returned a veridict for Plaintiff in the amount of $420k in wage loss, $15,150 in past medical expenses and $1.5m in pain and suffering damages for a total of nearly $2m.  (Affonso v Miguel Rocha D.B.A. M.R. Enterprise, Case No. FCS-040957). 

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