WELD COUNTY, Colo. — A Colorado jury recently awarded an oilfield worker $30 million for injuries he got on the job. But because of a state statute, he's only getting about half that.
Steven Straughen was injured four years ago when a fracking tank exploded in Weld County. He fractured multiple bones, suffered a mild traumatic brain injury, and eventually had to get his leg amputated.
In 2021, Straughen filed a personal injury lawsuit against the company he worked for, BHS Inc. Last week, the jury sided with Straughen awarding him $30 million. He will get at least $15 million of that. But because the rest was awarded for pain and suffering, the state of Colorado caps those awards at $600,000. That cap was something Straughen's attorney, Kurt Zaner, said jurors didn't know about.
"This damage cap was a real disservice, not only to people like Steve, but to the jurors,” said Zaner. “I mean, they spent two weeks, and they did what they thought was right, and now because of this law, what they did has no effect. Unfortunately, justice has not been served because what they think Steve needs is not what's going to be delivered.”
A damage cap is a limitation on the size of an award that the plaintiff can receive in certain cases. Colorado's damage cap was put in place by lawmakers in the 1980s. Of the $30 million the jury awarded, Straughen will only see about $15.6 million. 9NEWS Legal Analyst Whitney Traylor said the rest of the money goes away- no one pays it. Traylor believes these damage caps are unfair and outdated.
“This has been an ongoing issue but here now you see the practical sides of it where someone has this completely traumatic event and the jury comes back and says we deliberated, we listened to the facts and evidence, we think it's worth this- and then to go from $15 million to essential $600,000 that does feel implicitly unfair,” said Traylor.
Zaner said there's not much more they can do with Straughen’s case, but he is working to help others in the future. Zaner said he is in the beginning stages of helping put together a ballot measure that could eventually allow voters to decide if Colorado should get rid of damage caps altogether.
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