(Jamaica Observer) Furniture retailer Courts Jamaica Limited has lost its bid in the Court of Appeal to cut the multimillion-dollar award to a 28-year-old man it had previously agreed to provide with a lifetime supply of Viagra, following an accident that left him impotent.
Kenroy Biggs, who is from a rural St Andrew community, suffers from permanent erectile dysfunction and general physical impairment of his body by “55 per cent” as a result of a Courts truck crashing into him in March 2003. Biggs also lost part of his left leg by way of amputation.
In January 2010 in the Supreme Court, Justice Bryan Sykes awarded Biggs J$18 million for pain and suffering and loss of amenities, as part of an overall J$45.85 million in damages that the furniture retailer is to shell out.
Courts subsequently filed an appeal, arguing earlier this year that the sum is inordinately high and inconsistent with “awards made in comparable authorities”. It argued for the figure to be cut to J$10 million.
But last Friday, Courts’ appeal was dismissed on the grounds that the
J$10 million “would not be an adequate amount for the degree of physical and psychological damage” that Biggs
had suffered.
“Clearly, he arrived at the award he ultimately made as befitting the respondent’s circumstances,” the appellate court noted of Justice Sykes’ ruling.
Biggs underwent several years of medical procedures, which included urethra surgeries in the United States.
He later filed suit against Courts to recover damages and the company agreed to some of the damages sought, including the cost of his regular supply of the erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra, estimated at $1.53 million.
A medical report said that Biggs suffered from depression as a result of the trauma of the accident and is functioning at “65 per cent of his full overall psychological capacity”.
Justice Sykes, in making the award in January 2010, lamented Biggs’ plight, while noting that the sum of $18 million was appropriate compensation for pain, suffering and loss of amenities.
“Mr Biggs has permanent urological damage. There is the permanent problem of stricture of his urethra, which can only be relieved by the painful insertion of catheters. Mr Biggs has permanent erectile dysfunction. He has lost a leg,” Justice Sykes noted then.
