Five million five hundred dollars or what my week was like.
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:04 pm
I was in court all week trying a case that resulted in a 5.5 million dollar verdict against the party I was defending and the other defendant. Its not as bad as it sounds for me, since my real goal was to keep the other defendant in the case, as I truly believe its driver was the real cause of the accident.
Plaintiff was in a pickup truck struck by an 18-wheeler driver by my defendant's employee when it when left of center to avoid another 18 wheeler turning left at a rural crossroads. The jury verdict was 4 million for him and 1.5 for his wife. This is the largest personal injury verdict ever in my county. The verdict is excessive and I believe it was the result of the other defendant's lawyer making things worse rather than better for his client. He could have settled for 1/2 million before trial and probably less.
The verdict was partially the result of my destruction of the co-defendant's traffic safety expert on cross examination. I chose the word destruction carefully, when I was done there was no real doubt that the co-defendant was at fault. They should have admitted their responsibility and tried the case on damages and not annoyed the jury.
The testimony was that when the co-defendant driver turned there was a car in front of my defendant. That car was traveling at 45 mph and had to come to a complete stop. My defendant was unable to stop without hitting the car in front and couldn't go right because of a drainage canal on the side of the road and the turning truck.
"Big Trucking Co" decided that meant they were not responsible.
The jury disagreed.
Plaintiff was in a pickup truck struck by an 18-wheeler driver by my defendant's employee when it when left of center to avoid another 18 wheeler turning left at a rural crossroads. The jury verdict was 4 million for him and 1.5 for his wife. This is the largest personal injury verdict ever in my county. The verdict is excessive and I believe it was the result of the other defendant's lawyer making things worse rather than better for his client. He could have settled for 1/2 million before trial and probably less.
The verdict was partially the result of my destruction of the co-defendant's traffic safety expert on cross examination. I chose the word destruction carefully, when I was done there was no real doubt that the co-defendant was at fault. They should have admitted their responsibility and tried the case on damages and not annoyed the jury.
The testimony was that when the co-defendant driver turned there was a car in front of my defendant. That car was traveling at 45 mph and had to come to a complete stop. My defendant was unable to stop without hitting the car in front and couldn't go right because of a drainage canal on the side of the road and the turning truck.
"Big Trucking Co" decided that meant they were not responsible.
The jury disagreed.