PAIN AND SUFFERING

Jury Awards $46M to Athlete Paralyzed in Jiu-Jitsu Class

Jack Greener was about to move to Costa Rica and become a surfing instructor when he suffered incomplete quadriplegia.

A California jury has ordered a jiu-jitsu club to pay $46 million to a man who suffered a paralyzing spinal-cord injury during a class—three weeks before he was set to graduate from college and head to Costa Rica to become a surfing instructor. Jack Greener had incomplete quadriplegia, which means he has weakness or paralysis in all four limbs; he can walk with effort but spends most of his time in a wheelchair. He has made headlines in recent years for an effort to climb Mount Whitney, the largest peak in the lower 48 states. His lawyers told The Daily Beast that after two days of deliberation, the jury found the jiu-jitsu school 100 percent at fault; the award includes $8.5 million for future medical expenses, $11 million for past pain and suffering, and $25 million for future pain and suffering.