Paralyzed Worker's $35.94 Million Pepco Verdict Reduced to $21.71 Million by Maryland Cap
After trial: Maryland's noneconomic damages cap reduced the $15 million noneconomic award to $770,000, leaving about $21.71 million. Pepco filed post-trial motions, and the case was later reported to have settled for a confidential amount.
Won by Janet, Jenner & Suggs LLC, Solo practitioner, Washington, D.C. and Yarborough Applegate Law Firm.
A Montgomery County, Maryland jury in October 2014 returned a verdict against Pepco for a construction worker who was shocked by a transformer he had been told was de-energized and left paralyzed from the neck down. The jury awarded about $35.94 million, and Maryland's cap on noneconomic damages cut the $15 million noneconomic portion to $770,000, leaving about $21.71 million.
What happened
On May 6, 2013, Hugo Hernandez Palomino, then 28, was erecting scaffolding at a Pepco substation on Falls Road in Potomac, Maryland. He had been told the transformers there were de-energized, and he had no training for working around high-voltage circuits. A high-energy electrical arc struck him and threw him about eight feet off the scaffolding. A coworker gave him CPR until paramedics arrived.
The shock and the fall left Mr. Palomino paralyzed from the neck down, with severe burns. He depends on a respirator and a feeding tube, and the verdict was meant to pay for the care that would let him eventually live at home with full-time medical support.
The case went to trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court before retired Judge Thomas L. Craven and lasted six days. Mr. Palomino was represented by David B. Yarborough Jr., William E. Applegate IV and David Lail of Yarborough Applegate Law Firm in Charleston, South Carolina, together with Justin Browne of Janet, Jenner & Suggs LLC in Pikesville, Maryland, and Paul S. Jajan, a Washington, D.C., solo practitioner. William G. Gandy and Jason R. Waters of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP defended Pepco.
Liability was not the center of the trial. The main fight was over what Mr. Palomino's care would cost for the rest of his life. His side argued for round-the-clock specialized nursing. Pepco argued that basic assisted living would be enough.
On October 22, 2014, the jury sided largely with Mr. Palomino. It awarded $35,941,561.94 in all: $18,946,400 for future medical expenses, $869,211.94 for past medical expenses, $1,080,050 for future lost wages, $45,900 for past lost wages, and $15 million for noneconomic damages.
Maryland law limits noneconomic damages in personal injury cases, and the cap applicable here was $770,000. That reduced the noneconomic award by roughly $14.2 million and brought the total that could be entered to about $21.71 million. The cap applies only to pain, suffering and similar losses, so every dollar the jury awarded for medical care and lost wages stayed in the judgment.
After the verdict, Mr. Yarborough said Pepco's time for making choices for Mr. Palomino was over. Pepco filed an omnibus post-trial motion, and the case was later reported to have settled for a confidential amount.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
More proven verdicts from Yarborough Applegate Law Firm
All Yarborough Applegate Law Firm proven verdicts →Shannon Shaw was riding his motorcycle in St. George, South Carolina, in September 2021 when an Amazon delivery van turned left across his path. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and orthopedic injuries that led to a cervical fusion. In December 2023 a Dorchester County jury found Amazon vicariously liable and grossly negligent and returned $44.63 million, including $30 million in punitive damages against Amazon.
Thomas was riding as a passenger on Highway 9 outside Cheraw, South Carolina, when a Prime, Inc. tractor-trailer, driven by a trainee with about 90 days of experience while his trainer slept in the sleeper berth, turned left in front of their car and caused catastrophic injuries. A Chesterfield County jury awarded him $30 million.
Lennox Hinckson, a 65-year-old elevator mechanic, was crushed and fell roughly 60 feet at Holcim's cement plant in Holly Hill, South Carolina, after a Holcim employee called the elevator he was working on from a floor below. His estate settled wrongful death and negligence claims against Holcim for $20 million.
A 39-year-old service technician died of mechanical asphyxiation after he became trapped between the control panel of an aerial boom lift and an overhead obstruction inside an industrial freezer. His widow sued the lift manufacturer, the rental dealer and the processing facility for product liability and negligence. The case settled on July 21, 2025, for $10.25 million.
Related workplace injury verdicts
After nearly 30 years of litigation, Markovits Stock and DeMarco secured a $742 million-plus-interest settlement for approximately 23,000 Navistar retirees whose healthcare and life insurance benefits had been repeatedly reduced.
Paul Napoli served as court-appointed co-liaison counsel for nearly 10,000 firefighters, police officers, and construction workers who developed respiratory diseases after working at Ground Zero, securing a settlement worth up to $712.5 million against the city and its contractors.
Jose Valdivia, 25, was building scaffolding at the Phillips 66 refinery in Lake Charles when a co-worker above him lost his grip on a steel scaffold bar. It struck him on the head and spine through a hard hat and full protective equipment. He is in a wheelchair with limited speech. Brock never reported the accident to OSHA.
On September 7, 2019, Ulysses Cruz, a 48-year-old United Airlines ramp worker serving as a wing walker at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, was struck from behind by an Allied Aviation Fueling Company of Houston van whose driver said the morning sun was in his eyes. Cruz was paralyzed from the chest down and suffered a stroke two days later that cost him the use of his dominant right arm. After a two-week trial before Judge Ravi Sandill, a Harris County jury on October 25, 2021 found Allied 70 percent and driver Reginald Willis 30 percent at fault and awarded Cruz, his wife and their two children $352.7 million in compensatory damages. Judge Sandill conditioned denial of a new trial on a $117.5 million remittitur of noneconomic damages, which the family accepted, and an amended judgment of about $235.3 million was signed February 7, 2022. Allied appealed, the parties reached a confidential mediated settlement, and on July 18, 2023 the First Court of Appeals vacated the judgment and dismissed the case at the parties' joint request.