Westmoreland County jury awards $19M settlement to swimming pool injury victim

WESTMORELAND COUNTY — A Westmoreland County jury awarded a $19 million settlement in damages to a Vandergrift man who was left paralyzed after an accident at a friend’s swimming pool.

The settlement is believed to be the largest verdict ever issued in Westmoreland County.

According to our partners at the Trib, jurors found that Robert and Laura O’Black, from Washington Township, were negligent and liable for the injuries sustained by 29-year-old Michael Fraser.

Fraser broke his neck when he dove onto a raft in the family’s swimming pool.

The Trib reports that Fraser’s lawyers said the O’Blacks improperly allowed a five-foot rubber raft into the pool.

“This is going to give Mike peace of mind and says it’s not all his fault,” said Fraser’s lawyer Mike Calder.

During the weeklong trial, Fraser and his legal team claimed that were it not for the raft, the life-altering injury would not have occurred.

The Trib reports that the jury awarded him $9 million in damages to pay for past and future medical expenses, $3 million for pain and suffering, $3 million for loss of life’s pleasures, $3 million for embarrassment and $1 million for disfigurement.

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