$40.5 Million Verdict for Motorcyclist Paralyzed When Tow Truck Blocked View Out of a Waterbury-Area Lot

Don Zemo IV was riding his motorcycle past MyHoopty.com, a towing and vehicle recovery business in the Oakville section of Watertown, Connecticut, in 2021. Outside the business, a company tow truck was parked in a way that blocked the sightline along the private street, obstructing the view for anyone pulling out of the lot and for anyone approaching on the road.

As Zemo rode past on his motorcycle, an SUV pulled out of the lot, unable to see him coming because the parked tow truck was in the way. Zemo tried to accelerate and get clear, but the SUV pulled into his lane and cut him off. He went down. The crash left him with a T12 spinal cord injury, a break at the base of the thoracic spine that resulted in permanent paralysis below the injury site. He would not walk again.

Zemo sued MyHoopty.com, LLC, arguing the company created the hazard that caused the crash by parking a tow truck where it blocked visibility on a road its own customers used to enter and exit. The case, tried in Superior Court at Waterbury, turned on a premises and traffic-safety theory that a business is responsible for hazards it creates on the property it controls, including obstructions that make it dangerous for other vehicles to see and be seen.

Michael A. D'Amico and Jeremy D'Amico of D'Amico & Pettinicchi tried the case for Zemo. The jury agreed that MyHoopty.com bore the largest share of responsibility for the crash, apportioning 65 percent of fault to the towing company for the parked truck, 25 percent to the driver of the SUV that pulled out, and 10 percent to Zemo himself. On July 22, 2025, the jury returned a verdict of $45 million: $8.5 million in economic damages for Zemo's medical care and lost earning capacity, and $36.5 million in non-economic damages for a permanent paralysis injury to a man in his twenties who would need decades of adapted living ahead of him.

D'Amico & Pettinicchi described it as believed to be the largest motorcycle injury verdict in Connecticut history. Attorney Michael A. D'Amico said after the verdict that the noneconomic award was just and appropriate given the severity of Zemo's injuries, and that the economic award reflected the evidence presented at trial.

MyHoopty.com did not let the verdict stand unchallenged. The company filed post-trial motions arguing the size of the award reflected jury sympathy rather than a reasoned assessment of the evidence, and asked the court to set the verdict aside or reduce it. Zemo's legal team opposed the motions, characterizing them as an attempt to relitigate issues the jury had already resolved at trial. As of the source reporting reviewed, the post-trial motions remained pending before the court, with the outcome resting on whether the trial judge found the verdict was driven by passion or by the evidence.