"SERVING
ALL OF FLORIDA"
Jury awards $14 million to Chandler for attack
By Debbie Salamone
In a mostly symbolic gesture, an Orlando jury decided Thursday that two abductors should pay $14 million for stuffing an Orange County youth into a sweltering car trunk and nearly killing him in July 1993.
The victim, Philip Chandler, likely will never collect a dime. But he and his family hope the judgment signals that it's time auto manufacturers were required to install a device that allows car trunks to be opened from inside.
Chandler, 18, suffered permanent brain injury after Michael Daymon and Terrence Jenkins, both 19, robbed him and forced him into the trunk of his father's car outside a Pine Hills shopping center. Chandler was near death when the teens dumped his body in DeBary after joy riding for about five hours.
In April 1994, the two were convicted of kidnapping, robbery and attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. They were not in court Thursday and did not defend themselves against the lawsuit filed in 1993.
For jurors in Orange Circuit Court, Chandler described his old life:
"I played basketball and drove and just went to school, stuff like that ... hung out with my friends," he said slowly, staring at his attorney Russell Troutman.
His new life: "I sit in my room and watch TV ... watch a lot of movies."
Chandler still has trouble walking and talking and continues to undergo physical therapy. Gone are his dreams of becoming a hotel manager.
The jury awarded Philip Chandler $12 million and gave $1 million each to his parents, Jim and Eve Chandler, who said they have dedicated their lives to caring for their son.
A lawsuit against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. was settled in March 1994. The company, which insured the 1986 Ford Mustang in which Philip Chandler was imprisoned, will provide the youth at least $1.4 million over his lifetime.
Troutman said he will send the verdict information to Ford Motor Co. in hopes of persuading them to install some kind of trunk safety device. Chandler had no way to get out of the hot Mustang trunk.
The Chandlers are part of a group forming to push for the trunk device requirement. Anyone interested in helping may call Tavares dentist Susan Glenn Caddell at (904) 343-2821.
From:
The Orlando Sentinel
Fri., August 18, 1995
Troutman, Williams, Irvin, Green, Helms & Hemphill, P.A.
311 W. Fairbanks Avenue - Winter Park, Florida 32789 - Phone: (407) 647-2277