During his civil trial this week against his neighbor, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said he knew that recuperating from injuries caused by being tackled by Rene Boucher would be a “living hell” for at least several weeks afterward.
On Wednesday, a Warren Circuit Court jury decided Paul deserved more than a half-million dollars for his ordeal.
After deliberating for around 90 minutes Wednesday afternoon, the jury of seven men and five women unanimously decided to award Paul $200,000 in compensatory damages.
The jury could have awarded Paul up to $500,000 for pain and suffering and up to $1 million in punitive damages.
Paul was also unanimously awarded $7,834.82 for medical expenses.
The senator had sued Boucher, a retired doctor who lives next to him in the Rivergreen subdivision, for damages related to the injuries from the Nov. 3, 2017, tackle that occurred as Paul was doing yard work outside his home.
Paul endured six broken ribs, two bouts of pneumonia and a hernia that the congressional physician who treated Paul testified developed from coughing related to the pneumonia brought on by the rib fractures.
After the verdict, Paul said the lawsuit was meant to address “what kind of society we want to live in” and how to best resolve conflicts.
“We’re in a world right now where we have so much political dissension, religious dissension and even day-to-day dissension between neighbors,” Paul said. “We’ve got to get the message out there that violence isn’t the way to resolve our differences. I think we really can resolve our differences in a peaceful manner and I think that’s what the jury said here.”