I tried a case in Dekalb County last week on a very tough case and the jury punished the client for her past. This will serve as a good instruction for people with claims and similar history to my client. My client was a very nice person who had the bad luck of having 6 prior car accidents over the years. The recent ones were 1997, 2000, 2002. In 2001 she had a 4 level ACDF fusion surgery and of course she reinjured it in the 2002 crash.
The client had been hit in Dunwoody, Georgia and there was moderate damage of $1,400.00 to her car. It aggravated her neck and low back condition though and after 3 years of no treatment she had to go back to Resurgens Orthopedics and a pain specialist. She hired me as an Atlanta injury lawyer to present her case to the jury because State Farm refused to pay for her medical care.
To further complicate matters, the client fell in August 2006 and hit her head in a restaurant. She also broke her foot and fell in April 2007. So we were facing a challenge in that the August 2006 fall was right in the middle of her treatment and we could not claim past the April 2007 fall either.
We brought four witnesses to court in Decatur, Georgia and tried an outstanding case. We presented video testimony from her doctor and really knocked down the evidence.
State Farm increased their offer from $12,000 to $40,000.00 on the first day of trial and then increased it to $50,000.00 on the second day because of how it was going. Unfortunately, the client chose to see what the jury would do. This is a lesson in the capriciousness of the jury. The jury returned a verdict of $17,780.00 and told us afterwards that the 5 prior collisions turned them off and made them think she was a serial claimant. They gave her the medical care up until August 2006 and that was it. Keep a case like this in mind when you are trying to decide whether to mediate a case or to go through with the trial. If there are too many things to explain away, your best value might be in settlement.
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1 comment:
Tsk. I've never heard of person this prone to car accidents. Poor lady. I believe that digging deep into a person's past can reveal so much of who that person is now. But this isn't a tangible basis to cast a verdict right away.
-Tracy Pierre
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