Jury awards Pincay $2.7 million

Former jockey Laffit Pincay was awarded a judgment of $2.7 million by a jury in Pasadena on Monday, the culmination of a lawsuit against Huntington Ambulance regarding the spill that ended his career more than four years ago.

Pincay, 60, had reached an out-of-court settlement early last year with Santa Anita and the physician’s assistant who treated him immediately after the accident on March 1, 2003, during a race on the hillside turf course at the Arcadia track.

During a trial that lasted about two weeks, Neil Papiano, Pincay’s attorney, argued that Huntington Ambulance had not followed proper procedure in treating Pincay in the aftermath of the spill, which occurred when Trampus Too, the horse he was riding, clipped the heels of Rainman’s Request in the day’s fifth race.

Ridden by Tony Farina, Rainman’s Request drifted into the path of Trampus Too, sending Pincay to the ground.

“I think the verdict was proper and just,” Papiano said. “We tried to resolve this without litigation, but [Huntington] was very adamant about litigating this matter.

“The jury got it right. Laffit wasn’t provided with the proper care. He should have been put on a board and in a full body and neck brace. He was told to get into the back of the ambulance and then they dropped him over at the track’s first-aid station. A lot of things were done wrong. Our position is that if the right procedures had been followed, he would have been able to go back to riding about six-to-eight weeks after the accident.

“Laffit wanted to be compensated for the loss of his future. He wanted to retire on his own terms. He was doing very well at the time [second in the jockey standings at Santa Anita].”

Pincay, in court when the verdict was announced, was happy with the outcome.

“I feel very good about it,” he said, adding that he would still be riding if he could.

Stacey O’Bryan, a part owner of Huntington Ambulance, which continues to serve the local racetracks, said she wasn’t sure about an appeal.

“It’s unfortunate the verdict went against us,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned, nobody at the company did anything negligent. We didn’t cause [Pincay’s] accident or his retirement, but the jury saw it differently.”

Immediately after the spill, Pincay was treated at the track and released. He was scheduled to return to action less than a week later, but pain in his neck persisted, prompting an examination at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

The examination showed that he had two breaks in a bone in his neck. Doctors later told him that his spine wasn’t stable enough to continue riding, and he announced his retirement April 29, 2003.

When he retired, Pincay was the world’s winningest rider with 9,531 victories. Russell Baze then passed him for the lead Dec. 1, 2006, at Bay Meadows.

*

bob.mieszerski@latimes.com