$615,000 VERDICT FOR THE ELECTROCUTION BLUES

After a one-week trial, a Jackson County, Missouri, jury returned a verdict in favor of Rose Barsky, a twinkly-eyed 82-year-old woman who sued her landlord after she broke her arm when she received an electric shock from her refrigerator. The jury found the defendant, Plaza Towers Apartments, 95% at fault and returned a verdict of $615,000. Vic Bergman and Steve Six tried the case.

In September of 1996, Ms. Barsky called the Plaza Towers Apartments manager to ask for a new refrigerator when her old one stopped working. The manager sent a repairman, who rewired the old refrigerator. Several hours later, Ms. Barsky received a severe electric shock when she grasped the freezer door handle with her right hand while grounding herself on the metal kitchen sink with her left. As a result of the electric shock, she could not let go of the handle, and in the struggle she sustained a spiral fracture of her right arm.

The liability theory was that the repairman, who had not received any training in electrical or appliance repair, was not qualified to make the repairs on the refrigerator and was negligent in the work he performed. The defendant's expert claimed that the shock was caused by an intermittent fault, unrelated to the repair, which he claimed was the reason the refrigerator failed in the first place.

Before her injury, Rose Barsky was an independent woman who lived by herself in an apartment next to Winstead's on the Plaza. She had an active social life, including outings with friends and family and frequent excursions on the Plaza. She was so well known as a regular at the Plaza Theater that she attended the films as their guest. Others on the Plaza knew her as the "Plaza movie critic" because after seeing a movie, she would make the rounds visiting friends who worked on the Plaza and provide a review of the movie.

At trial, one and a half years after the injury, Ms. Barsky's right arm fracture still had not healed. Because of a pre-existing disability to her left arm, the unhealed right arm fracture left Ms. Barsky unable to care for herself. She had to move into an assisted living facility. The case was about the loss of the independence, privacy and dignity Rose suffered in making the transition.

Before her injury, Rose had been a prolific author of poetry, distributing an annual review poem to her friends and family and publishing poetry in the Wednesday Magazine in Kansas City. Unable to write, Rose woke up one night while she was in a nursing home and dictated the poem "Electrocution Blues" to an attendant, summarizing her injury, loss of independence and dignity brought about by her injury.