Ga. jury returns $3.4M injury verdict against State Farm client
The award is nearly 70 times larger than the $49,000 pre-trial settlement offer proffered by defense counsel.
A Chatham County, Georgia State Court jury returned a $3.4 million verdict against State Farm and one of its insured motorists following a 2016 injury wreck in Savannah.
Having secured an outcome nearly 70 times larger than the $49,000 pre-trial settlement offer proffered by defense counsel with Barrow & Ballew, prevailing counsel with Morgan & Morgan are now outlining their successful trial strategy following an eight-year legal fight.
‘Failed to yield’
Atlanta-based Morgan & Morgan attorneys Seth Diamond, Jody Wade and Edgar Smith teamed to represent plaintiff Anastasia Smith after she endured permanent injuries from a T-bone vehicular collision in January 2016.
According to plaintiff counsel, Smith had been driving westbound on Airways Avenue in Pooler, Chatham County, Georgia, near its intersection with Interstate 95, when a vehicle driven eastbound by defendant William Eads struck hers while making a left turn toward an on-ramp.
“[The d]efendant failed to yield the right of way to Ms. Smith by making a left turn in front of her vehicle, which caused a collision between the two vehicles,” plaintiff counsel alleged. “Despite failing to yield the right of way at the intersection, Defendant contends that he is not responsible for the collision.”
Read: Consolidated Pre-Trial Order
Savannah attorney Joseph H. Barrow of Barrow & Ballew served as defense counsel for Eads and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. Barrow did not respond to a Daily Report request for comment but argued in a consolidated pre-trial order brief that it’d been Smith’s negligence that contributed to the crash.
“The light was green, and defendant entered the intersection with his turn signal activated waiting for traffic to clear. When the traffic signal turned yellow, defendant proceeded with his turn. The plaintiff traveling east on Airways Boulevard, entered the on the yellow light and struck the right rear quarter of defendant’s vehicle as he was completing his turn,” defense counsel contended. “It is defendant’s position that plaintiff was negligent in entering the intersection after the light had turned from green to yellow and defendant’s vehicle already had control of the intersection.”
Defense counsel also challenged “the nature and extent” of the plaintiff’s injuries.
Remaining at odds over liability and the severity of the damages, plaintiff counsel rejected a $49,000 pre-trial settlement offer from the defendant. The matter then proceeded to trial in Savannah before a Chatham County State Court jury on Sept. 9.
‘Anecdotes like these helped’
Gathered before Chief Judge Gregory V. Sapp, plaintiff counsel centered its trial strategy on overcoming challenges posed by the plaintiff’s involvement in a subsequent vehicular collision.
“Ms. Smith was involved in another car accident about three years after ours,” Diamond said.
To overcome the hurdle, Diamond said plaintiff counsel focused the jury’s attention on medical records that supported their contention that Smith had been “permanently injured.”
“We were able to show the jury that despite the severe impact that the second accident did not create a new injury or worsen the injuries she suffered in our car crash,” Diamond said.
Hoping to highlight how the 2016 collision with Eads had impacted Smith’s life, plaintiff counsel also leveraged testimony from her family members to relay how the incident had altered “her personality and took away things she was passionate about.”
Plaintiff counsel told jurors that Before the crash, Smith had been “outgoing and active, and enjoyed archery.” To underscore the assertion, plaintiff counsel shared an anecdote about how Smith’s father had purchased her a new bow for Christmas in 2015, but that she’d never been able to use it since the collision occurred shortly after.
“Her injuries often make simple things like leaving the house to spend time with friends or family into painful ordeals,” Diamond said. “Anecdotes like these helped convey to the jury the severe impacts the crash had on Ms. Smith’s life.”
‘Jurors… want to provide justice’
After four days of trial and four hours of deliberations, the Chatham County State Court jury returned a $3.4 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff, but not without apportioning her 5% fault for the collision.
In addition to awarding Smith $400,000 in past medical expenses, the jury awarded $1,500,000 in future medical expenses and $1,500,000 in pain and suffering.
Read: Verdict
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“When your client is a good person and you have a righteous cause, trust that jurors will want to provide justice to your client,” Diamond said. “The verdict was truly a vindication for a young woman whose life had been drastically changed by the carelessness of another. We were thrilled to be able to obtain justice for her.”