Jury Awards $7 Million to Family of Lineman Killed in Helicopter Long-Line Fall
After trial: Winco's counsel declined to say whether it would appeal and said the company could not comment in anticipation of post-trial proceedings. We found no report of an appeal or reduction and have not checked the court docket.
Won by Paulson Coletti Trial Attorneys.
A Marion County, Oregon jury in November 2019 awarded $7 million to the family of Nicholas Gamalski, a 27-year-old powerline worker who fell about 100 feet to his death when a helicopter long-line rope severed in Louisiana in 2017. The helicopter operator, Winco Powerline Services, admitted fault and contested only damages. The award was $3 million to his estate and $4 million to his parents. Because the deaths happened in Louisiana, that state's law governed and no cap on noneconomic damages applied.
What happened
On November 7, 2017, Nicholas Gamalski, 27, and Travis Chiokai, 26, were working on a powerline project in southwestern Louisiana. Both men were suspended from a helicopter on a nylon long-line rope, more than 100 feet above the ground. The rope broke. Both men fell and died at the scene.
Gamalski was a California resident working through his employer, Irby Construction. The helicopter belonged to Winco Powerline Services, a company based in Aurora, Oregon, that has carried workers and equipment for powerline construction since 1992. His parents, William and Karen Gamalski, also of California, were his survivors, and the estate's claim was brought by Portland attorney John Coletti.
The case turned on how the rope failed. According to Coletti, the pilot maneuvered the helicopter so that the nylon line rubbed against an abrasive braided metal static line, and the friction severed it. The families' lawyers argued the deaths could have been avoided if the long-line had been covered in Kevlar, which resists abrasion. Court documents also noted that no spotter was on the ground and no co-pilot was aboard.
The suit was filed in Marion County Circuit Court in Oregon, where Winco is located, even though the deaths occurred in Louisiana. Winco did not dispute that it was at fault. It asked the jury to decide only what damages were owed. Louisiana law governed, and unlike Oregon, Louisiana does not cap noneconomic damages in wrongful death cases, so the jury was free to value the loss without a statutory ceiling.
In November 2019 the jury returned its awards. For Gamalski, it awarded $3 million to his estate for the pain and suffering he endured between the rope snapping and his death, and $4 million to his parents for the loss of their son, a total of $7 million. A separate award went to Chiokai's estate and his infant daughter, who was born about a month after his death. That family was represented by Portland attorney Nick Kahl.
After the verdict, Coletti said it was frustrating that human life is valued more highly in Louisiana than in Oregon. Winco's lawyer, Karyn Jorgensen of Seattle, declined to say whether the company would appeal, and the company said it could not comment in anticipation of post-trial proceedings.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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