AUGUST 24, 2002

THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

JURY AWARDS $60 MILLION TO MAN HURT IN CAR WRECK

Published: August 24, 2002
By: Janie Bryant

© The Virginian-Pilot

PORTSMOUTH -- A jury ordered a delivery company to pay $60 million to a 40-year-old man left with severe brain damage and catastrophic health problems after an August 2000 traffic accident.

Brian Hugen woke up in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital 62 days after the accident on Va. 32 in Suffolk.

The furniture mover from Sunbury, N.C., spent six months in hospitals and almost died three times, according to his wife, Florence ``Flo' Hugen.

"He's a fighter, and I get my strength from him," she said Friday after jurors returned the verdict.

The accident was caused by the driver of a van for Velocity Express, a same-day delivery company, said Jeffrey A. Breit, one of Hugen's attorneys.

The driver drove into on-coming traffic and hit Hugen's car after hitting another car, Breit said. The jury, which arrived at a verdict in less than an hour, found the corporation responsible.

Attorneys for Hugen sought $85 million in compensation and were pleased the jury came back with such a large award.

"My sense is they evaluated the future cost of health care, coupled with the devastating injuries," said John W. Drescher, who represented Hugen with Breit and Boyd Scarborough.

Hugen suffered a collapsed lung and fractures in his leg, hand and face.

One of the complications of the brain injury is a condition called heterotopic ossification, which causes abnormal buildup of bone and immobility of his joints. Hugen has it in both elbows, his shoulders and possibly his knees.

He has some movement, but effectively he's a quadriplegic," Drescher said. "His overall condition will just deteriorate."

Velocity Express' attorney, John K. Train IV, said Tuesday it was possible that the driver of the third car caused the accident.

Hugen was severely injured, Train said, but he has recovered from some of those injuries and surgery may help him recover more.

"What this case boils down to is how can we make Brian get better," Train said. "His condition is not as dire as you have just heard."

But Drescher said Hugen's doctors determined the risk of serious complications from surgery "outweighed the chance for success."

Jurors heard four days of testimony, including Flo Hugen's account of how her husband now sees her more as a "mother and caretaker."

Hugen testified that she slept in a recliner near her husband's hospital bed in their living room so that she could move him every two to four hours.

"There's no way to describe what these two years have been like," she said after the trial. "The whole quality of our life has changed."

She told jurors she wanted to believe that she was doing the best for her husband but worried that she was "failing him."

"I am fearful for what lays ahead for him," she said.

After learning of the verdict, she expressed hope that her husband would get the medical care he needs.

He deserves that opportunity after what he's been through for two years."

Staff writer Amy Jeter contributed to this report. Reach Janie Bryant at 446-2453 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Awarded: $60,000,000