BY KYM LIEBLER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- A $5 million jury award against Warren County shrank by more than $1 million Tuesday, but the reduction isn't enough to satisfy commissioners.
Judge P. Daniel Fedders of Warren County Common Pleas Court rejected the county's wish for a new trial.
An eight-member jury on April 3 ordered the county to pay $5 million to relatives of the Rev. David Hensley and his family for failing to put up a guardrail that could have stopped the Hensleys' car from plunging into the Great Miami River. The Rev. Mr. Hensley, his wife, Sandra, and children, Alisha and Brian, drowned Jan. 22, 1995, when their car skidded on ice and fell into the river.
"It's not what we wanted," said C. Michael Kilburn, county commission president. "We're disappointed. We will more than likely appeal this."
The Rev. Mr. Hensley's parents, Henry and Opal Hensley, and Mrs. Hensley's parents, Eugene and Mabel Lane, won their wrongful-death lawsuit against the county, and the jury awarded them $5 million to compensate for the loss of their children and grandchildren. Judge Fedders shaved off $1 million by agreeing that state law protects political entities, such as county governments, by limiting the amount of damages they have to pay to $250,000 per claim. The jury had awarded relatives of the Hensley family $500,000 in survival damages for each of the deaths.
He also reduced the award by $300,000 to account for auto insurance money paid to the estates of Sandra, Alisha and Brian Hensley.
The judge also reduced the amount of damages by 20 percent because the jury found the Rev. Mr. Hensley -- who was driving -- was 20 percent responsible for the wreck.
James Ruppert, a Franklin lawyer representing Hensley family relatives, anticipates the family will appeal some of the reductions. He called the decision to cap damages at $250,000 unconstitutional. "The Ohio Constitution says the jury's right to determine damages shall be inviolate. The statute passed by the state legislature violates the state constitution."
