Woman gets $.5M for severed hand

A mother of one who lost her left hand from the wrist down as a result of a vehicular accident was awarded over $.5 M in damages. Although Mellisa Lopez is fitted with a prosthetic hand, it is only for cosmetic purposes because  the rest of her hand is paralysed. Lopez, who worked as a barmaid at “Destiny Bar” in Malabar,  had accepted a ride home on the morning of July 3, 2003, with Ronald King, who was driving a pick-up van belonging to Complete Freight Services Ltd and insured with Bankers Insurance.

It was about 2 am when Lopez left with King and after driving a short distance along the Malabar Road  from her place of work,  the van crashed into a wall. As a result she suffered “degloving” injury to her left hand which became gangrenous because of the severity of the injury and had to be amputated from the wrist. She was 21 years old at the time. Lopez, through her attorney Ken Sagar, filed a writ in the Port-of-Spain High Court on January 30, 2004, suing for damages. She named King, the freight company and the insurers as defendants.  She claimed among other things loss of earning, the cost of the prosthesis, future cost for replacement and general damages.  Since the accident, Lopez has not worked. After the matter was argued before Justice Rajendra Narine, the parties agreed to settle the claim, and by consent, the sum of $575, 000 plus her legal costs were agreed upon last Wednesday. Attorney Bindra Dolsingh represented the defendants.