Daytona Beach, FL – The Kansas woman seriously hurt over 3 years ago by a Volusia County Beach Patrol truck won’t get all of the $2.6 million awarded to her by a jury.
The 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach ruled on Friday that Erin Joynt shouldn’t get $600,000 for lost earning capacity and future medical expenses stemming from her injuries in that July 2011 incident in Daytona Beach Shores.
The 33-year-old woman’s head and chest were run over by a VCBP truck as she sunbathed on the beach during a family vacation, causing a fractured skull, a collapsed lung, broken ribs, brain damage, memory loss and partial paralysis on one side of her face.
Joynt eventually had surgery to reconstruct her left ear and place a gold weight in her left eyelid so she could blink.
Volusia County admitted liability in the incident, but the county appealed the jury’s decision soon after it was handed down in June 2014, claiming Joynt didn’t deserve the $600,000 because she hadn’t proven she was entitled to those damages.
In a 12-page ruling, a 3-judge panel from the 5th DCA wrote that Joynt returned to work a year after the accident and intended to continue working, thus failing to meet her burden for lost earning capacity.
The remaining $2 million – awarded for past and future pain and suffering – isn’t affected by the ruling.
The incident drew national media coverage and eventually led to various safety changes on the beach as well as the re-naming of the VCBP to Beach Safety & Ocean Rescue.
The amount Joynt won was less than the $5 million her attorney asked for from the jury during closing arguments.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.