SPRINGFIELD — In November 2011 Julian Pellegrino pleaded guilty to operating under the influence of alcohol causing serious bodily injury in a Chicopee crash that injured Mark Costa.



Now Pellegrino has sued Costa for that same car crash, claiming he should get $1.1 million.



Pellegrino is asking for medical expenses for his injuries as well pain and suffering and physical damage.



Costa, the man whose car Pellegrino hit on Dec. 20, 2009 in Chicopee, has sued Pellegrino for $199,000 in medical costs and lost wages.

And in a separate suit, Kimberly Desjardins, the passenger in Pellegrino’s car that day, is suing both Pellegrino and his construction company, and Costa.

All three civil suits were filed in late December 2012 in Hampden Superior Court.

When Pellegrino pleaded guilty in November 2011 he was sentenced by Judge Mary Lou Rup to 2½ years in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, with 18 months to be served and the rest suspended with three years probation.

Thomas J. Rooke, Costa's lawyer in the civil suit against Pellegrino, said, "I believe it is outrageous that Julian Pellegrino would file a suit against an individual whom he severely injured and who nearly lost his leg after he pleads guilty to operating under the influence causing serious bodily injury."



In his suit, Pellegrino, whose lawyer is Matthew J. King, said Costa negligently and carelessly operated his vehicle "so as to cause it to collide" with Pellegrino's vehicle. King could not be reached for comment.

As a result, the suit said, Pellegrino "suffered a broken neck, and was otherwise injured, was prevented from transacting his business, suffered great pain of body and mind and incurred expenses for medical attention and hospitalization."



When Pellegrino pleaded guilty in Hampden Superior Court, Assistant District Attorney James M. Forsyth said Pellegrino was driving east in his Ford Ranger pickup truck on Granby Road in Chicopee at about 2:20 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2009, when he fishtailed and crossed over the yellow line and collided with Costa's Acura sedan, which was traveling west.

Pellegrino’s blood alcohol was .09 percent, over the legal limit of .08 percent.

Pellegrino apologized in that court hearing to Costa and then to his own family.

Pellegrino, who briefly considered a run for state representative in the 9th Hampden District in 1999, is the son of Kathleen B. Pellegrino, a former police commissioner, and retired Springfield Juvenile Court Judge Joseph A. Pellegrino.



Costa told Rup he was 26 years old the day of the crash, which changed his life tremendously.



"I had bones that were coming, protruding out of my legs, that were just being connected by tendons and pieces of skin. I was asking firefighters and paramedics if I was going to lose my legs." he said at Pellegrino's sentencing.

In Costa’s civil suit, he lists as injuries as several severe fractures to the right leg, a multiligamentous injury to the left knee and three surgeries to repair the legs. He has 23 percent permanent impairment to the left leg and nine percent impairment to the right leg as well as bone calluses and nerve damage, he claims.

Costa’s suit also names his parents as plaintiffs and in addition to Pellegrino as defendant, lists Rudolph Construction and Management. The suit said Pellegrino’s truck was owned by the company, of which Pellegrino was sole owner and manager.

In her suit Desjardins, who has the same address as Pellegrino – 29 Savoy Ave. in Springfield – sues Pellegrino (doing business as Rudolph Construction and Management), and Costa.

Desjardins said she was a passenger in Pellegrino’s car and that Pellegrino carelessly and negligently operated his vehicle “so as to cause a collision,” injuring her.

She said the exact same thing about Costa in the suit.

Pellegrino, in a separate case, was found guilty in Springfield District Court of driving under the influence of alcohol in November 2010 while he was awaiting trial in the Hampden Superior Court case involving Costa.

In that case, which went to trial after the sentencing in the Costa case, he was sentenced to 120 days in the Hampden County Correctional Center to be served after his sentence on the Costa case.