While working as a stagehand for the hit Broadway musical, Mamma Mia , Mai-Linh DeVirgilio was severely injured when a "Genie lift" tipped over and fell on her, causing a crush fracture to her pelvis, a fractured sacrum, and fractured ribs.
In DeVirgilio v Feller Precision Stage Lifts, Inc. , after a New York County Supreme Court jury found that DeVirgilio's pain and suffering would continue for some 53 years, she was awarded $1 million for future pain and suffering and $500,000 for future lost earnings.
On appeal, the Appellate Division, First Department, rescinded the "lost earnings" component.
Despite demonstrating that her injury increased her risk of developing a degenerative spinal disease and arthritis, and that she suffered from post-traumatic stress, DeVirgilio failed to establish a loss of wages because she had returned to the job she held before the accident, at the same rate of pay. (Her only evidence of future lost earnings was based on her own unsubstantiated opinion of her potential income as a stagehand.)
So, you see, ABBA got it wrong. The winner doesn't always take it all.
To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: DeVirgilio v Feller Precision Stage Lifts, Inc.