Back to Notable Cases

Notable Cases

Women is paralyzed, but justice prevails

Jury Trial

Charlotte Cole vs. the Nonprofit Center for Cancer and Blood Pressure Research – operated by Harvard University

In this groundbreaking case, ergonomics was used as evidence for the first time. A woman dove off the sea wall on the property and became a quadriplegic (she broke her neck). There were no warning signs about shallow water or "No Diving". The custodian of the property said no one ever dove off the sea wall. They also said the woman was being careless.

Attorney Ed Ricci worked the case and found witnesses who fished in the area, who said they often saw people diving off the wall at the property. Why would people dive if they could see the water was shallow?

Ricci's law firm used a human factors engineer and ergonomics specialist who testified about human perception. This was the first time that ergonomics type testimony / human perception expertise was allowed to be used in a court case. It proved that the woman's perception was off because at that time of day with the tide being in and the bright sunlight sparkling on the water, it looked deeper than it was. The woman could not see the bottom. So indeed there should have been warning signs posted.

This was precedent setting and now this type of evidence is used all the time.

Back to Notable Cases