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8 ¦ DECEMBER 9, 2019 NEWS

¦ From FATHER-AND-SON on PAGE 7 Gabriel’s parents, brother and be-
Representing defendant Utica havioral aides who had worked
Mutual Insurance Co. in the un- with the boy before and after the
derinsured portion of the claim Gabriel wasn’t viewed by crash.
was attorney Michele Wojcik of the jury as a child with no
According to D’Amico and the
Cheshire-based Nuzzo & Rob- future before the crash,” complaint, the bus driver claimed
erts. Wojcik did not respond to a a green car was swerving in and
request for comment Monday. he said. “The defense out of lanes causing him to crash
In court papers, the defense the school bus. The bus crashed
painted him as a child into a tree on the right passenger
maintained the bus driver was with autism with no future side, just where Goncalves was
neither negligent nor careless. before the crash,” attorney

But the jury found the bus driv- Michael D’Amico said, “but sitting. There were five people on
er 74% responsible for the crash, children with autism can the bus, but the boy was the most
and attributed the other 26% to severely injured, D’Amico said.
the driver of a car involved in the be employed and can live The green car was never located,
incident. independently and semi- and while witnesses to the crash
claimed they never saw a green
D’Amico said he was also able independently.

to counter the defense’s claim that car, one of the other students on
Goncalves’ behavioral decline was the bus said he’d seen it.
related to his preexisting autism and puberty. Fol- According to an air-bag control module, Hudo-
lowing the crash, the boy would sometimes show benko, the bus driver, was traveling between 43 and
aggressive and impulsive behavior, according to his 45 miles per hour at the time of the crash. The speed
Nov. 21 amended complaint. limit was 35 miles per hour. The police did not cite
D’Amico said he believes he was able to show Hudobenko, D’Amico said.
through numerous medical experts that Goncalves’ The jury verdict could be appealed, but D’Amico
behavior was due to the effects of the accident. Those said he saw no “appealable issues of any consequence
experts, D’Amico said, included a neuropsychologist, on the defense side.”
a pediatric neurologist and a pediatric and behavior- ¦

al psychologist. All testified at trial that the crash was Robert Storace covers legal trends, lawsuits and
the key factor in the boy’s behavioral changes. analysis for the Connecticut Law Tribune. Follow
In addition, D’Amico said, several fact witnesses him on Twitter @RobertSCTLaw or reach him at
testified to the changes after the crash, including 203-437-5950.

High Court Ruling Limits Coverage
For Homes With Bad Foundations

By Steven A. Meyerowitz

T his story is reprinted with permission from the the Connecticut Supreme Court recently issued a de-
Insurance Coverage Law Center, the industry’s cision essentially foreclosing insurance coverage for
only comprehensive digital resource designed this type of damage except in the most extreme cases.
for insurance coverage law professionals. Visit the

website to subscribe. The Case
Although recognizing the “seriousness of the In 2010, Steven and Gail Karas purchased their
crumbling foundations problem” and the “gravity of home in the town of Vernon, Connecticut. Their home
the problem” for so many Connecticut homeowners, had been built in 1984 and, as the court explained, the

CONNECTICUT
Law Tribune