Maggio et al. v. Whitford et al.

CASE NAME: Maggio et al. v. Whitford et al.

TYPE OF CASE: Personal injury

COURT: Monterey County Superior Court

JUDGE(S): Judge Thomas Wills

PLAINTIFF LAWYERS: Kermani LLP, Mohamad Saleh Ahmad, Ramin Kermani-Nejad, Jason Reilly Doucette

DEFENSE LAWYERS: Taylor Anderson LLP, Jorge A Martinez, Brent D. Anderson; Bordin Semmer LLP, Joshua Bordin-Wosk, Andrei V. Serpik

A key moment in the negligence trial on behalf of a man who'd suffered a massive electrical shock up his right arm came when a juror, through the judge, asked the defense expert a question. What's this black spot on the plaintiff's left hand? The juror pointed at a photo.

"I don't know what that is," the expert answered, according to lead trial counsel Mohamad Ahmad. "That's a good question." Maggio v. Whitford, 20CV000925 (Monterey Super. Ct., March 6, 2000).

The defense witness, an expert in bioelectricity, had testified that it was impossible for the high-voltage direct current that struck Kelley Maggio to reach beyond his right arm.

RAY KERMANI

Maggio was an electrician who had spent several months working as a subcontractor at a solar power plant in Paso Robles owned by First Solar Electric Inc., the main defendant. His lawsuit alleges that in April 2019, a First Solar employee turned off power to four "combiner boxes" that routed electricity through the system but then failed to lock them off. Later, as Maggio was working on another piece of equipment, the power was somehow restored, and he was hit with enough electricity to kill most people, according to Jason Doucette, his other trial attorney.

Maggio, who could press 500 pounds, survived but with a severely burned right arm. The damage was "horrendous," Doucette said. "It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie."

One key moment during the trial was Ahmad's cross-examination of the defense bioelectricity expert. He had testified that direct current could not have caused Maggio to be "locked on" to the equipment he was working on, contrary to eyewitnesses' accounts. In fact, a co-worker had to tackle him to break him free.

However, Ahmad got the expert to concede that the standard text in the field contained a half dozen errors on that and other points. "By the end of it ... everybody was chuckling at him," Ahmad said.

The most meaningful evidence during the five-week trial was the testimony of the plaintiff and his wife, the attorneys said.

Maggio "is an incredible human being," Doucette said. "He is one of those people that everyone loves the moment that they meet him, and so is his wife."

Ahmad said Maggio's efforts had saved the stalled multimillion-dollar power plant project. He is such a dedicated worker that he has returned to work. During his testimony, "he wasn't crying ... but he was joyful [and] looked strong."

JASON REILLY DOUCETTE

"His pain is real, and he doesn't have to exaggerate," the attorney said. "The jury understood that."

The verdict demonstrates that sufficiently powerful DC electricity can cause someone to be "locked on" to a contact point, contrary to thinking in the field, Ahmad said.

It also shows that large verdicts are possible in Monterey. The jury awarded plaintiffs more than $51 million. The judge issued a remittitur to reduce Maggio's pain-and-suffering damages from $44 million to $15 million.

Even at that level, the verdict is one of the largest in Monterey County history, Ahmad said.

Defense attorneys did not respond to a request to comment on the verdict.

Both sides are appealing damages issues, including whether the judge issued his remittitur decision one day late.

-- Don DeBenedictis