State settles with paralyzed former inmate for $1.35 million

Thursday, June 10, 1999 | 9:26 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Board of Examiners Wednesday agreed to pay a $1.35 million out-of-court settlement to a former prison inmate who was paralyzed from the chest down when he fell out of an upper bunk at a conservation camp in Ely.

Jerry D. Wright, who was serving a term for burglary, suffered from a seizure disorder. But instead of being assigned a lower bunk, he was in an upper. He suffered a seizure, fell out of bed and broke his neck June 30, 1995.

Investigators told the board that Wright, now 37, will require nursing care for the rest of his life and cannot perform normal bodily functions without help. His life expectancy has been reduced by 10 years. Medical expenses are expected to run as high as $3.4 million over his lifetime.

The medical staff at the prison had several opportunities to restrict Wright to a lower bunk but failed to do so, investigators said.

Wright has completed his sentence and is now living in Reno, where he will receive slightly more than $3,000 a month.

The prison is going to cost the state $18,000 in another case. James Yered, a pharmacist, claims he was unjustly fired at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City. He said he was subjected to harassment because he is Jewish and his rights were violated when a tape recorder was taken from him by force.

Yered in 1997 was called into the office to be admonished about violating a security-key policy at the prison. An investigator detected that Yered had a tape recorder in his pocket, which the pharmacist refused to give up. He was detained, and the recorder was forcibly removed from him.

Investigators said some of the claims "are supported by the record and have the potential for an award of damages well in excess of the settlement."

The board also voted to pay $39,000 to Toru Nagai, who was involved in an accident with a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper who ran a red light in pursuit of a traffic violator in January 1994 in Las Vegas.

Trooper Robert Honea had his emergency lights on and was 80 percent through the intersection at Paradise Road and Twain Avenue when he was struck by a car driven by Nagai.

Deputy Attorney General Bridget Branigan said both drivers were at fault for not paying full attention.

Nagai suffered extensive brain surgery, and his medical bills now total $28,000. The state could have been liable for more than $100,000 if it did not settle.

Also approved was a $10,166 payment to Dennis and Marcia Bieroth, whose hayfield was ruined at their farm near Mountain City in Elko County.

Several rainstorms caused salt from a Department of Transportation stockpile to run into the field, which required extensive work before it could produce a hay crop again.