A jury found attorney Thomas Nuovo had no written or verbal agreement with Robert Parizo to take one-third of his $1 million settlement. Parizo was thrown from his wheelchair in an accident while he was being transported for medical care in 2010. He reached the settlement in 2012.
Parizo was traveling to the hospital for treatment connected with an earlier injury in 2005, when he fell installing a roof in South Hero and was paralyzed.
According to court records and his daughter, the Colchester man was making substantial progress regaining use of his legs when the 2010 accident occurred, two days after Christmas.
Parizo died in 2015 of an infection after a bout of pneumonia while his lawsuit against Nuovo was pending. He was 56. If upheld, the amount awarded earlier this month would go to his family, including his daughter Liza Barron, who was his primary caretaker. Parizo had another daughter and a son. He and his wife were divorced when he died.
Nuovo and his firm, Bauer Gravel Farnham, are appealing the judgment to the Vermont Supreme Court. He told VTDigger the “verdict was inappropriately obtained.”
The attorney said he discussed a one-third contingency fee with his client but did not put the agreement in writing due to an “oversight.”
Nuovo was admonished for negligence by the state’s Professional Responsibility Board, which oversees lawyer conduct, for not following rules that require a written agreement. The Vermont Supreme Court approved the board’s decision.
Parizo argued in court papers that he and Nuovo never discussed a contingency fee. Instead, Parizo believed he would pay the same $180 hourly rate Nuovo charged him before, including representing him in a suit that arose from the roof accident.
The jury found Nuovo violated the Consumer Protection Act and committed breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. But jurors did not find him guilty of more serious allegations of fraud and professional negligence.
Nuovo is one of four partners in the seven-person firm. In an interview Tuesday, Nuovo said the judgment, if upheld, would not put the small firm in financial jeopardy. There was testimony during the trial that Nuovo’s law firm had several large unpaid bills.
Owen Jenkins, Parizo’s attorney, declined to comment on the jury verdict and the appeal.
Parizo, a carpenter and roofer for 35 years, was paralyzed from the waist down after he fell during the 2005 roofing job in South Hero. Through extensive therapy and rehab, he was able to ride a stationary bicycle and walk in a therapy pool. He also received three stem cell treatments in Mexico, according to Barron, his daughter. Each treatment cost $20,000 and was paid for by Parizo and his sister remortgaging their homes.
After the 2010 accident, Barron said, her father was primarily bedridden and was occasionally in a wheelchair until his death two years ago.
“The car accident didn’t only shatter his body. It shattered his spirit,” she said. The hardest part for him, she said, was knowing how hard he had worked to recover the partial use of his legs.
“He was a warrior with a humbled heart,” Barron said. “He didn’t take lightly the fact he was paralyzed. He wanted to succeed and walk again and be an inspiration.” But the injuries in the crash were extensive, she said, leaving him in a state of depression.
The 2010 accident was horrific, according to court records. Parizo was in a van on Interstate 89 just south of St. Albans when it collided with a car that had just hit a state snowplow. Parizo was “catapulted” out of his wheelchair into the dashboard. He was bleeding profusely when paramedics arrived, and he suffered multiple fractures to his legs and a broken hip.
Nuovo settled the case with Morf Transit and the driver who hit the snowplow for $1 million. When Barron picked up the check for her father, the amount was $500,000. Nuovo said he had taken out a $333,333 fee and paid expenses including an expert witness.
Being paid a contingency fee, a percentage of a legal settlement, is typical for a personal injury lawyer, but the agreement must be in writing, according to court records, which also note Nuovo had more than two decades of experience.
The jury concluded Parizo was thrown from his wheelchair because he was not properly restrained and was “not wearing a side-button seatbelt” at the time of the accident.
According to records, Parizo said he asked Nuovo about payment during a mediation session that led to the settlement. “He said he was unsure because he had not yet added up his time, but that he had put a lot of time into the case, as had others in his office.” Later, Parizo said Nuovo told him “when everything was done, he would send a bill for his time.”
Parizo said he found out Nuovo was taking a percentage only when Barron called and said the check was made out for $500,000. In court papers, Parizo said he objected at the time; Nuovo, in the PRB case, said Parizo did not complain until years after the payout.
Not receiving the expected settlement was devastating, Barron said. Parizo knew he would need extensive medical help in the years to come, she said.
“It broke him,” she said of receiving less than expected. “It was the final straw that made him feel like less of a person.”
Nuovo said he didn’t find out he lacked a written agreement with Parizo until 2014 when Parizo hired Jenkins, who asked to see the contingency agreement. Nuovo self-reported the violation to the Professional Responsibility Board.
According to documents, Parizo had medical bills of $340,000 at the time of the settlement in 2012, of which he had to pay about $50,000.
Barron said the worst part of the case was that her father trusted Nuovo. She said the lawyer promised to also sue other parties, including Ford Motor Co., the maker of the van, but did not pursue those cases. Nuovo indicated in court records that going after Ford would require additional expert witness expenses.
“They used his disability and vulnerability to their advantage and put their interests before his,” Barron said of Nuovo and his law firm. “He trusted them.”
“It’s an eye opener,” Barron said. “It makes you step back and wonder who you can trust in the professional world.”
And with the case now before the Supreme Court, Barron said she will have to continue to fight when she’d rather grieve for her father.