$101M for injury
Suffered in fall at Jones Beach theater
A Manhattan jury awarded a Long Island man $101 million for a fall at a 2013 Live Nation event at Jones Beach that cracked his skull and left him disfigured.
Jurors in Manhattan Supreme Court decided last Monday that Live Nation should cough up the massive sum to Mark Perez, 36 — who had to undergo four brain surgeries and now suffers from memory loss and requires full-time care after falling from a 10-foot-tall booth at the Jones Beach Marine Theater in Wantagh.
The injuries even cost him his longtime girlfriend, attorney Benedict Morelli told The Post.
“He lost his love of his life at the same time,” Morelli said.
“Obviously it was really upsetting to him, but he knows he’s only a shell of himself. He said he understood.”
According to court papers, Perez was helping to set up the second level of the two-story Best Buy booth at the event on June 26, 2013.
Another worker was operating a forklift nearby to lift aluminum trussing onto the platform when he “hit the structure, causing plaintiff to plummet to the ground,” court papers said.
Perez underwent his first brain operation that same day — and doctors told his family he had a 10 percent chance of surviving.
He filed the lawsuit against Live Nation, the California-based promoter that sponsored the event, and several of the company’s subsidiaries later that year.
Perez had sought damages for past and future pain and suffering, lost earnings, medical expenses and the cost of a care-giver.
Morelli said Live Nation did offer a $31 million settlement to his client — but didn’t do so until the eve of trial in October.
“You would think that Live Nation would have responded years and years earlier to try and settle this case but they didn’t respond with an offer until a week before the trial,” the lawyer said. “That’s when they started offering money.” He said he rejected the offer. The case went before a judge in 2016, who found the company liable for Perez’s injuries.
But the question of damages was left to a jury.
That trial began Oct. 28 and wrapped up last week, with the six-person jury coming up with the hefty award.
“There was a lot to it and the defendant’s experts and lawyers never really took responsibility,” Morelli said. “They tried to diminish his cognitive deficiencies, almost blaming him, to get a discount.”
He said Perez will likely need further brain operations and is two or three times more likely to develop degenerative diseases including early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.
His elderly parents and brother now take care of him, Morelli said.
Perez said he is grateful for the “dedicated jury that did justice to me and my family.”
Live Nation and lawyers that represented the company did not return requests for comment.