$523k awarded for fender bender

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By HEATHER O'NEILL
Staff writer
The Connecticut Post

Nov. 6, 1999 | MILFORD -- A jury on Friday awarded a city woman more than a half-million dollars after her attorney argued that a 1991 fender bender caused her post-traumatic stress disorder because it brought back memories of childhood abuse.

The plaintiff, Andrea Karlsen, created a scene outside the courtroom after the verdict was read, screaming and crying in disappointment that she was not awarded more money. Karlsen hollered at spectators and yelled an epithet at John Costa, attorney for the defendant, before leaving the courthouse.

Karlsen and her attorney, Loren Costantini of Milford, were seeking more than $6 million in damages to cover medical bills, loss of income and pain and suffering she allegedly suffered after her car was rear-ended by New York Supreme Court Judge George B. Daniels.

Daniels, who has been nominated to be a federal court judge by President Clinton, admitted on the stand to causing the fender bender on the Boston Post Road in Orange on Dec. 29, 1991. But he testified that the accident was so minor that neither an ambulance nor a tow truck was needed afterward.

Costantini argued, however, that the accident had triggered post-traumatic stress disorder in Karlsen and memories of childhood abuses so severe that she became ill - both mentally and physically - and unable to work as a flight attendant.

He said the accident caused his client a host of problems, including neck and arm pain, muscle spasms, loss of sleep, nausea, chronic crying and depression. He said in his closing arguments that the accident turned what was once a woman who was high on life into a woman "who is high on drugs. Her life is bills and pills."

Costantini claimed that Karlsen had been abandoned by friends and lost her home in the aftermath of the accident. He said that his client had in effect "died" in the accident because she was no longer the woman that she had been before.

Costa argued that while Karlsen may suffer from mental illness, it was not a result of the accident.

"If someone has his or her psychological plate that full," he said, "isn't it reasonable to assume that something will eventually make it overflow? That something will eventually push her over the edge?"

He said that it could have been anything that caused Karlsen's mental illness and that his client should not be forced to pay for abuses Karlsen suffered as a child.

Costa also questioned why two previous automobile accidents had not triggered the stress disorder. He said he found it suspicious that the accident involving a judge driving a New York state-owned car had "been the straw to break the camel's back".

The jury deliberated for a day and a half before returning with their verdict. They ordered Daniels to pay $25,000 for Karlsen's medical bills, $198,175 in lost wages and $300,000 for pain and suffering.

Neither Costantini nor Costa returned calls Friday afternoon.

Heather O'Neill, who covers Milford and Superior Court, can be reached at 878-2130.