$1 Million Award For Attendant Bumped By Angry Driver

PORTLAND - A jury has awarded $1 million to an airport parking attendant who sued a wealthy neurosurgeon for cursing her over a $25 citation and ramming her with his Mercedes-Benz.

About 10 p.m. on Aug. 31, 1995, June Grittman asked Dr. Darrell Brett to move his coupe from a no-parking lane outside the main terminal's lower level at Portland International Airport.

Grittman, who earned $11 an hour enforcing airport parking regulations, testified that Brett said he could "buy and sell" people like her.

As she stood in front of the doctor's car writing a ticket, Brett bumped her once across the knees with the bumper, backed up and then hit her again, sending her sprawling onto the hood.

The three-day trial drew packed courtrooms, prompted in part by the presence of Court TV. All along, said Grittman's lawyer, Gregory Kafoury, it was a case of the high and mighty vs. the little people.

"Some people have too much money in this world," Kafoury said after jurors found Brett had committed civil battery. "He needed to be brought down to earth."

Witnesses testified Brett bragged that he made $3 million a year and told Grittman that if she didn't get out of the way, he would run over her.

After three hours of deliberations, jurors yesterday awarded $200,000 for physical and emotional injuries and $800,000 in punitive damages. Under Oregon law, half of the punitive damages go to a fund to assist crime victims.

Brett declined to comment. His lawyer did not say whether he would appeal.

"The law is for everybody, regardless of whether they're doctors or lawyers or whoever," said Grittman, 51.

Grittman claimed she suffered knee and lower-back problems after being bumped. Brett's attorney, Austin Crowe Jr., argued that Grittman's injuries weren't severe, citing doctors' examinations and the fact that she returned to work after five weeks.

Brett testified that he didn't mean to bump Grittman, saying he accidentally let up on the brakes and, before he knew it, had inched forward and bumped the woman.

Brett faces accusations in another $300,000 lawsuit that he made ethnic slurs against a Fred Meyer pharmacist who called for confirmation of a prescription.