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Husband’s murder of wife was premeditated, family claimed

Amount:

$124,260,000

Type:

Verdict-Plaintiff

State:

Pennsylvania

Venue:

Montgomery County

Court:

Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas

Injury Type(s):

arm-bruise; head-fracture, skull;
head-blunt force trauma to the head; other-death; other-multiple trauma; other-unconsciousness; face/nose-facial laceration; face/nose-fracture, facial bone;
mental/psychological-emotional distress

Case Type:

Wrongful Death – Survival Damages; Intentional Torts – Willful Misconduct, Assault and Battery

Case Name:

Gary Gregory, administrator and personal representative of the Estate of Ellen Gregory, deceased v. Rafael Robb,
No. 2008-36401

Date:

November 5, 2014

Parties

Plaintiff(s):

Gary Gregory (Male), 

Estate of Ellen Gregory (Female, 49 Years)

Plaintiff Attorney(s):

Andrew R. Duffy;
Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky PC;
Philadelphia,
PA,
for
Gary Gregory, Estate of Ellen Gregory ■ John E. Savoth;
Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky PC;
Philadelphia,
PA,
for
Gary Gregory, Estate of Ellen Gregory ■ Robert W. Zimmerman;
Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky PC;
Philadelphia,
PA,
for
Gary Gregory, Estate of Ellen Gregory ■ Robert J. Mongeluzzi;
Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky PC;
Philadelphia,
PA,
for
Gary Gregory, Estate of Ellen Gregory

Plaintiff Expert(s):

Ian Hood;
M.D.;
Forensic Pathology;
Philadelphia,
PA called by
Andrew R. Duffy, John E. Savoth, Robert W. Zimmerman, Robert J. Mongeluzzi

Defendant(s):

Rafael Robb

Defense Attorney(s):

Eric D. Levin;
Rishor Simone;
Butler,
PA,
for
Rafael Robb

Facts:

On Dec. 22, 2006, plaintiff’s decedent Ellen Gregory, 49, was murdered by her husband, Rafael Robb, in their Wayne home. The couple had been married since 1990. Gregory’s skull was demolished and her face was pulverized. The family claimed that the murder was premeditated, as Robb used a crowbar to repeatedly strike his wife about the face and head. Two weeks following the murder, Robb was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. In November 2007, he pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter. He is serving a sentence of five to 10 years. Gary Gregory, on behalf of his sister’s estate, sued Robb for assault and battery and willful misconduct. He claimed Gregory and Robb’s marriage had been destructive in nature. Years leading up to the murder, Robb allegedly abused Gregory, both emotionally and psychologically. Robb allegedly attempted to control Gregory by withholding finances from her and refused to pay for her basic living needs. The brother also testified he lent $5,000 to his sister to use as a retainer to hire a divorce attorney, whom Gregory met with a few weeks before her murder. According to plaintiffs’ counsel, on Dec. 22, shortly after 8 a.m., Robb dropped off his daughter at school. Robb was captured on video surveillance at the University of Pennsylvania (his place of employment, where he was an economics professor) and at a convenience store, between 11:23 and 11:56 a.m. Robb admitted to killing his wife sometime during those four hours. It was plaintiffs’ theory that Robb returned home, outfitted himself into hazmat overalls, and bludgeoned his wife to death with a crowbar. Counsel alleged, following the murder, Robb walked into his garage and took off the overalls and discarded the suit and murder weapon. Robb claimed to have discarded his clothing and murder weapon in the Chinatown section of Philadelphia. A police investigator testified that boot prints in Gregory’s blood led to their residence’s garage, and then stopped, and an unused hazmat suit, along with a mask, was found in Robb’s car. Investigators removed the drain traps from the residence’s sinks and shower and found no evidence of blood. The only blood found on Robb was to his thumb; he claimed it came from checking his wife’s pulse when he returned home from establishing his alibi. Given the blood-splatter analysis of the walls and floors of the kitchen, where the murder occurred, the lack of blood on any other part of Robb’s body, and how blood was tracked nowhere else inside the house, Robb wore a hazmat suit to kill Gregory, which demonstrated the murder was premeditated, maintained plaintiffs’ counsel. Plaintiffs’ counsel also relied on photographs and the testimony of its expert in forensic pathology to assert its theory the murder was premeditated. A photograph of the garage, taken by Gregory’s brother, showed a tool rack affixed with a crowbar. Police photographs taken of the garage post-murder showed the tool rack without the crowbar, which Robb allegedly discarded along with the overalls. An expert in forensic pathology opined Gregory had ragged cuts on her skull, and the markings to her arms were defense wounds, in attempt to stave off the murder. The arm wounds were consistent with a hard flat-edged object, akin to a crowbar, as opposed to a metal cylindrical exercise bar, which Robb claimed he used to strike his wife, according to the plaintiffs’ expert. Photographs of Gregory’s arm further revealed flat bruising. Moreover, contended plaintiffs’ counsel, Robb did not alert emergency officials until 1:45 p.m., and did so by not calling 911, which he knew would record his call, but by calling a backline number to the police. The couple’s 12-year-old daughter was due home from school shortly after 2 p.m. Robb claimed Gregory’s murder was not premeditated but done in the heat of passion. Robb testified he and Gregory were in an argument that led to her pushing him, causing him to fall back and hit his head on a counter. He reportedly found a metal cylindrical exercise bar lying in or near the kitchen and started to beat Gregory with it in a fit of range. Gregory’s brother and daughter testified that Gregory did not have an angry or violent personality, and she would have never pushed Robb. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the defendant’s prior statements were inconsistent when describing where he found the exercise bar.

Injury:

Gregory was four days from turning 50. According to Gregory’s brother, she and her daughter were preparing to drive to Boston (where her brother lived) to celebrate Christmas and her birthday, and to tell her family she was divorcing Robb. In addition, Gregory had planned to move into a new apartment on Jan. 1. Following the murder, Gregory’s daughter moved to Boston to live with her uncle, and later moved to New Jersey to live with her other uncle, who obtained custody of her. Gregory’s daughter testified how her mother was her best friend and how she was the one to whom she went to talk. According to the daughter, one of her biggest losses was celebrating happy moments with her mother. The daughter further testified, before Robb admitted to the act, she lived in constant fear, afraid her mother’s killer would come after her. The estate sought unspecified damages for Gregory’s mental and physical pain and suffering and loss of life’s pleasures. The estate also sought damages for Gregory’s daughter’s loss of contributions for shelter, food, clothing, medical care, education, entertainment, and gifts and recreation, from the time of Gregory’s death to the end of her life expectancy. In addition, the estate sought unspecified damages under the state’s Wrongful Death Act and Survival Act, including the value of the services, society, and comfort Gregory would have given to her daughter, had she lived. Counsel also sought to recover the value of the guidance, tutelage, and moral upbringing that Gregory’s daughter would have received. Plaintiffs’ counsel further sought to recover punitive damages against Robb, maintaining his conduct was malicious, wanton, willful, oppressive, and showed reckless indifference to the interests of Gregory. The defense reiterated Gregory’s death was the result of heat of passion and not due to any willful or wanton conduct.

Result:

The jury found Robb’s conduct was malicious, wanton, willful, oppressive, and showed reckless indifference to the interests of Gregory, whose estate was determined to receive $124,260,000.

Estate of Ellen Gregory: $6,300,000 Personal Injury: value of guidance, tutelage, and moral upbringing; $800,000 Personal Injury: daughter’s loss of contributions from time of Gregory’s death until today; $8,600,000 Personal Injury: Gregory’s mental and physical pain, suffering, and loss of life’s pleasures; $8,000,000 Personal Injury: value of services Gregory would have given to her daughter had she lived; $560,000 Personal Injury: daughter’s loss of contributions from Gregory’s death until the end of Gregory’s life expectancy; $100,000,000 Wrongful Death: Punitive Exemplary Damages

Trial Information:

Judge:

Thomas M. Del Ricci

Trial Length:

3
 days

Trial Deliberations:

4
 hours

Editor’s Comment:

This report is based on information that was provided by plaintiffs’ counsel. Defense counsel did not respond to the reporter’s phone calls.