Slot player awarded $499,000 for injury

Frank Wilson Jr., who had worked as a machinist at Electric Boat, sued the casino for lost wages and pain and suffering resulting from the July 7, 2001 accident. Wilson, now 49, was playing slots when the back of his chair broke. He fell to the floor, landing on his buttocks and back. He was taken to the hospital for treatment and later underwent surgery as a result of the fall.

Wilson briefly returned to work after the accident but was "frustrated by neck and back pain" and ceased working five months later, according to a court document.

Judge F. Owen Eagan awarded Wilson $499.613.47 plus costs following a three-day trial in the Mohegan tribe's Gaming Disputes Court, during which seven witnesses testified. Eagan determined that Wilson's fall at the casino alone did not so disable him that he lost the ability to perform other less strenuous, sedentary work. The judge wrote that Wilson's dependence on pain pills and the sleep disorder narcolepsy, with which he has been diagnosed, prevent him from resuming work.