He Was Helping a Friend Hang a Crucifix From Homemade Scaffolding When the Wire Snapped. The Jury Said $1.2 Million and 75 Percent His Own Fault. The Alaska Supreme Court Then Settled Which Comes First, the Fault or the Cap.
After trial: Reduced by the jury's own comparative-fault finding, then affirmed. The jury's $1,200,000 noneconomic award was multiplied by Kisling's 25 percent share of fault, giving $300,000; the Alaska Supreme Court held on March 14, 2025 (Kisling v. Grosz, Nos. S-18699/S-18709, 565 P.3d 226) that comparative fault is applied before the AS 09.17.010(b) cap, so the $400,000 cap was never reached. The figure ranked here is the $300,000 damages judgment. Alaska Civil Rule 82 fee-shifting is a live issue at 75 percent comparative fault, and the opinion does not address it, so the net recovery may differ from the damages figure. The judicial district is not stated in the opinion; both counsel practise in Anchorage. Attribution note: the verify file for this case originally had the sides reversed; the Supreme Court's counsel block names Barber for Grosz, the injured plaintiff, and Clayton for Kisling, the defendant. Collectability: the defendant is a private homeowner and no source reports insurance or payment, so the disclosure stays at not public.
Won by Barber & Associates, LLC.
Paul Grosz was standing on homemade scaffolding, helping his friend Gregory Kisling hang a crucifix above a staircase in Kisling's home, when the wire holding the crucifix broke. He fell and suffered broken ribs, a spinal fracture and a traumatic brain injury. A jury put his noneconomic damages at $1,200,000, twice what he asked for, but found him 75 percent at fault. The fight that followed was over arithmetic: apply Alaska's $400,000 cap first, or the fault split first. In March 2025 the Alaska Supreme Court held fault comes first, which left a $300,000 judgment.
What happened
Paul Grosz was helping his friend Gregory Kisling hang a crucifix on the wall above a staircase in Kisling's home. He was standing on scaffolding Kisling had built himself. The wire supporting the crucifix broke, and Grosz fell. He broke ribs, fractured his spine and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
He sued Kisling in Alaska Superior Court. The jury found Kisling negligent but put most of the responsibility on Grosz himself: 25 percent of the fault to Kisling, 75 percent to Grosz. It set his past and future noneconomic damages at $1,200,000, twice the figure he had asked for.
What followed was a dispute about the order of two subtractions. AS 09.17.010(b) caps noneconomic damages in an ordinary injury case at the greater of $400,000 or the plaintiff's life expectancy times $8,000. Kisling argued the cap should be applied first, taking $1,200,000 down to $400,000, and then the 75 percent comparative fault, leaving $100,000. Grosz argued fault first: 25 percent of $1,200,000 is $300,000, which is under the cap, so the cap never bites. The superior court entered judgment for $300,000. Kisling appealed and Grosz cross-appealed.
On March 14, 2025 the Alaska Supreme Court, in consolidated Nos. S-18699 and S-18709, held that comparative fault percentages are applied before any statutory damages cap. Twenty-five percent of $1,200,000 is $300,000, below the $400,000 ceiling, so no further reduction applied. Judgment of $300,000 affirmed.
Jeffrey J. Barber of Barber & Associates in Anchorage represented Grosz. Alfred Clayton Jr. of Clayton & Diemer represented Kisling.
The case is published here for the gap between its headline and its outcome. Verdict reporters carry it as a $1,200,000 Alaska negligence verdict. The plaintiff's judgment is a quarter of that, and the reason is the jury's own finding about who was mostly to blame.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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