Connecticut High Court Overturns $12.7M Crash Lawsuit Award

The Connecticut Supreme Court has overturned a $12.7 million jury verdict against the town of Clinton in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a man injured in a 2005 car crash who blamed a 911 dispatcher.

The lawsuit alleged the dispatcher failed to tell a volunteer firefighter during a 911 call to stop following a car that had struck the firefighter’s vehicle in a hit-and-run. The car crashed into a tree after the firefighter had followed it for nearly three miles at 40 to 50 mph.

Walker Hopkins was a passenger in the car and suffered a traumatic brain injury. His estate sued the town and a Waterbury Superior Court jury awarded him $12.7 million in 2011. The town appealed.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday the dispatcher wasn’t liable.