Pain and suffering: 10 of the toughest verdicts to hit the insurance industry
Some of the most astonishing cases in the past five years bring new meaning to the cry of ‘excessive.’
While insurers have been reeling from runaway verdicts for decades, some of the most astonishing cases in the past five years bring new meaning to the cry of ‘astronomical.’
A jury thrashed a local bar in Texas, for example, for $301 billion in damages after it found the watering hole over-served a man who later ran a red light, killing two women, according to VerdictSearch. This searchable online research library tracks verdicts and settlements.
Another jury in North Dakota pulverized a woman for $1.3 billion, finding her drunk driving responsible for killing two and severely debilitating a third person.
And a security company whose guard raped a 14-year-old girl at an apartment complex was obliterated by a jury with a $1 billion award against it.
For Cayce E. Lynch, administrative partner, Tyson & Mendes, the word astronomical comes to mind in a 2017 case in Las Vegas, where a wealthy hedge fund manager snared a $160 million verdict.
The fund manager’s beef: He’d endured unbearable pain and suffering in a fight with nightclub security.
Something seemed a little off with the award, Lynch says, given that the fund manager alleged traumatic brain injury even though “he was healthy enough to get married on a private island he rented during the jury trial.”
Questionably imaginative hedge fund managers aside, most decent folks believe that if one party negligently inflicts catastrophic pain on another, they should be made to pay.
But in the view of many insurance company defense attorneys, the duty to make an injured party whole has been catapulted into the realm of the absurd.
“Your life should not be ruined — or your company bankrupted — because of emotional pleas or psychological tricks by unscrupulous lawyers,” says Robert F. Tyson Jr., partner, Tyson & Mendes and author of “Nuclear Verdicts: Defending Justice for All.” “That is not justice.”
What’s going on here?
Tyson says plaintiff attorneys are winning these mind-blowing awards by cravenly employing ‘reptile theory.’
It’s the belief that if you can create enough outrage and fear in a jury over a catastrophic event, you can aggressively pursue and extract ridiculous awards rooted in unbridled anger.
“Successful reptile tactics lead a jury to believe the higher the damages, the higher the likelihood the community will be protected from similar future harmful events,” Tyson says.
Stephanie Fox, senior director of legal analytics for Verisk, agrees: “It activates jurors’ survival instincts, prompting them to make decisions based on fear rather than logic.”
Reptile theory also works, given that a large number of cases are often lodged against giant corporations. Those defendants often trigger anger and resentment among jurors even before they sit down to hear a case.
“Only 25% of people have confidence in big business, and around one-third of Americans say they have little to no trust at all for large companies,” says Roger J. Stewart, partner, Insurance Office of America.
Rachel York Colangelo, national managing director of jury consulting, Magna Legal Services adds, “The public is keenly aware of the deep pockets and resources that big businesses — and more importantly, their insurance companies — bring to litigation.”
For Tyson, the only way to push back on the plaintiff attorney’s predilection to enrage the wild animal that lurks in all of us is to take the gloves off and break with many hallowed defense attorney traditions, Tyson says.
Those traditions, Tyson concedes, are often honorable.
But even more often, he adds, they’re losers.
Specifically, Tyson says running with a new game means defendants must explicitly accept responsibility for the harm they’ve inflicted on the plaintiffs. “Why? Because you must defuse the number one source of runaway jury verdicts: anger,” Tyson explains.
It also means you need to give a number you’re willing to pay the plaintiff — even if you risk ticking-off the judge in the process. “You must give it early, and often, and it must never go up,” Tyson says.
And you also need to take great pains to cast your client in a sympathetic light. Show jurors a client who unabashedly shows contrition, Tyson says. But also show them a client who should not be nuked out of existence for a wrong.
In all, Tyson uses ten tactics against plaintiff attorneys that seek stratospheric awards — tactics he details in his book, which he says have enabled him to bring several heart-stopping award demands back to earth.
And the verdict is…
Those tactics are definitely worth a look-see — and might ultimately prove decisive in finding a way to avoid winding up on the following list — some of the most mind-bending jury awards in the past five years, according to VerdictSearch.
Allegedly Over-Served Bar Patron Kills Two in Auto-Crash – $301,040,000,000, Texas: The jury needed only two hours of deliberation to find against the defendant, who ran a red light at more than 90 miles-per-hour, killing a woman, 59 and her granddaughter, a teenage girl, 16.
The plaintiffs’ attorney successfully argued that the driver, who was drunk, was over-served at Beer Belly’s Sports Bar. The lion’s share of the award — $300 billion in punitive damages —was awarded evenly between the two daughters of the older woman.
Accused Drunk Driver Kills Two, Injures a Third – $1,127,000,000, North Dakota: A drunk driver killed two passengers in a head-on collision with another car, also leaving the other car’s driver with a traumatic brain injury.
The driver’s blood-alcohol level was more than three times North Dakota’s legal limit, and the defense did not contest liability. The jury awarded $295 million in punitive damages alone. The entire $1.1 billion was awarded to three people.
Multiple Trucking Companies Found Responsible for Young Man’s Death – $1,002,000,000, Florida: Attorneys for the family of the deceased, an 18-year-old male student, convinced a jury that multiple trucking companies were liable for the young man’s death.
Those found culpable included a trucking company whose driver crashed into an RV — snarling traffic to a standstill on a major highway. Also found liable was a semi-tractor-trailer company, whose driver slammed into some of the vehicles stopped in the traffic — including the deceased’s car.
Security Guard Rapist Triggers Major Liability – $1,000,000,000, Georgia: The employer of a security guard who allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl at an apartment complex was found liable for negligent hiring practices and negligent supervision in this case.
The jury apparently sided with the plaintiff’s attorney after hearing that the security guard had a history of other run-ins with tenants and guests at the apartment complex. The plaintiff’s attorney also apparently convinced the jury that the 22-year-old armed security guard had been hired without a license to be armed.
Trucking Convoy Found Liable in Highway Crash – 730,000,000, Texas: A dashboard camera for the truckers found liable in this case recorded the entire incident, which resulted in the death of a 73-year-old woman.
Essentially, a tractor-trailer veered into oncoming traffic on a local road with one lane in each direction, sheering the roof of the woman’s car and causing a fatal injury to her head. The jury found the drivers on the scene were mostly liable for the accident, with the trucking company — Landstar Ranger, suffering 20% liability.
Duo Culpable for Death of Young Man Burned Alive – $700,000,000, Florida: In a one-day trial and one hour of deliberation, a jury found two men liable for beating a 20-year-old man, setting him afire the next day and killing him.
At a home party, the duo beat the young man unconscious and left him on the porch overnight. The next morning, a video showed the two men checking the unconscious man for a pulse. They subsequently decided to drive him to a wooded area, pour gasoline on his body and set it afire.
An autopsy of the body later found that the 20-year-old had soot in his lungs — confirming that he was alive when burned.
Argument over Car Window Trigger’s Catastrophic Award – $495,123,680.00, Florida: After bickering with his high school friend over whether or not they should open a window in a car they were riding in, Frederick Lee Wade shot and killed the 20-year-old girl, later dumping her in a wooded area.
The entire award went to the young woman’s mother.
Hog Stink Brings Home the Bacon – $473,500,000, North Carolina: The attorneys for a group of neighbors fed-up with the stench from nearby hog farms convinced a jury that they were owed millions for pain, suffering — and most likely gagging.
Although the award was substantially reduced to $94,000,000, in the end, everything still came up daisies — at least for the plaintiffs.
Severely Paralyzed Worker Sways Jury – $352,772,000, Texas: A worker at an airport in Houston won the the jury’s sympathy after being hit by a van on the tarmac. His injuries included paralysis from the chest down and severe, cognitive impairment.
The driver of the van, who insisted he was driving into the sun when the accident occurred, was found 30% liable — with his employer 70% liable.
Trucker Kills in Head-On Collision – $280,065,000, Georgia: Five family members — including a grandmother and her twin sister, a daughter and two grandchildren all perished in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer.
One hundred million was awarded in punitive damages after the jury learned that the truck driver, who was running on less than five hours of sleep, allegedly fell asleep while driving and crossed into oncoming traffic, killing the family members.
Joe Dysart (joe@breakingnewsintech.com) is an internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
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