Pennsylvania jury awards $3.6M following 'minor rear-end accident'
The plaintiff's attorneys said the award is part of a trend of juries across the state becoming increasingly open to awarding sizable verdicts.
Although defense attorneys in a motor vehicle case may have characterized the plaintiff’s injuries as resulting from a “minor rear-end accident,” a Pennsylvania jury thought the scenario was significant enough to award more than $3.6 million in damages.
On Sept. 29, a Delaware County jury awarded Joyce Ferguson $3,639,125 for injuries she sustained after getting into a collision on Interstate 95. The award included $1.48 million for pain and suffering, nearly $1.2 million for future medical expenses, nearly $730,000 for lost future earnings and more than $228,000 for past earnings.
Following the verdict, Ferguson’s attorneys said the award is part of a trend of juries across the state becoming increasingly open to awarding sizable verdicts.
“There’s a trend in Delaware County and the counties, as there has been in Philadelphia and other counties as well, towards larger verdicts,” Kevin O’Brien of Stampone O’Brien Dilsheimer Law said. “Verdicts that are more commensurate with how the plaintiffs perceive the value in the case.”
Or, as J.B. Dilsheimer, who was lead trial attorney for Ferguson, put it, ”I don’t care what county you’re in. You can never discount a good plaintiff.”
Tyler Stampone acted as second-chair during the trial.
According to court papers, defendant Gregory Benton-Logan rear-ended Ferguson, who was 49 at the time, in December 2019 while driving on I-95. Ferguson was taken to the hospital, where she complained of neck and back pain and tingling down her back. X-rays showed no fractures.
In early January, Ferguson visited her primary care physician, raising similar complaints, and began treating with physical therapy for about a month before she suffer a stroke, which was not believed to be related to the collision. However, she was unable to return to physical therapy for several months.
In July 2020, an MRI showed a syrinx, which is a fluid-filled cyst, on Ferguson’s cervical spin. A neurosurgeon she treated with said the syrinx was due to the crash, and recommended Ferguson undergo a laminectomy and shunt placement. According to her pretrial memo, Ferguson got a second opinion, but the doctor again recommended a laminectomy. The doctor also found the syrinx was traumatically induced, and opined that the crash exacerbated Ferguson’s degenerative disc disease.
According to her pretrial memo, Ferguson treated with injection therapy, but has not undergone the laminectomy, although Dilsheimer said that at trial Ferguson said she would need to undergo the procedure at some point. The memo said she continues to suffer from headaches and back and neck pain.
The memo also said Ferguson retired as disabled in March 2022 from her longtime job with the federal government, where she had been earning more than $100,000 at the time of the collision. The memo cited experts who said Ferguson would be unable to engage in any kind of gainful employment.
Benton-Logan, however, in his pretrial memo, said the crash was a “minor rear-end accident,” and contended that the syrinx was not related to the accident.
Further, Benton-Logan, who was represented by Jonathan Auth of the Law Offices of Francis D. Mackin, cited defense experts who said the MRI showed no injuries, and that records showed Ferguson had been complaining of head pains before the accident.
Overall, Benton-Logan’s pretrial memo suggested Ferguson had been malingering.
“The plaintiff returned to work immediately following the accident and continued to work in-person until her office shut down because of the COVID pandemic. Thereafter, the plaintiff continued to work until she was required to return to the office,” the memo said. “It appears plaintiff’s expert witnesses have never considered that the plaintiff’s stroke impacted her ability to work or that she was able to work in-person immediately following the accident.”
However, after three days of trial before Delaware County Judge Spiros Angelos, the jury found for Ferguson.
According to Dilsheimer, the evidence was uncontroverted, the story was easy to tell and Ferguson was a great plaintiff, who answered questions directly, honestly and without being defensive.
The defense “took for granted that her story would seem embellished. Would seem like she was reaching. But we don’t try our cases this way,” he said. ”Trials are won on the strength of the plaintiff, not the strength of the plaintiffs lawyer.”
According to Ferguson’s pretrial memo, the defendant had $3.3 in insurance coverage. Dilsheimer said the final offer was $150,000.
“On any given day in any given county with the right case and the right plaintiff, you’re gonna get justice,” Dilsheimer said.
Defense counsel did not return a request for comment.