Galloway Johnson Tompkins Burr & Smith successfully secured a favorable result in a rear-end trucking case in New Madrid County, Missouri, led by Director Jennifer Woulfe and Associate Allison Thompson serving as second chair. In this case, the Plaintiff’s counsel asked for $13 million but after a 40-minute deliberation, the jury awarded only $150,000.
For a time before we became involved in the case, the Defendants were unrepresented, and during that time, Plaintiff filed, and was granted, a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on liability and causation which found that the Defendants were negligent in causing the accident, and that such negligence caused injuries to plaintiff’s brain and spine. The case was set for a bench trial on damages only when Jennifer and the Galloway team stepped in with our experience, expertise, and tenacity for trucking and transportation defense cases. Jennifer swiftly moved to set aside the partial summary judgment order but was denied, and the case was reset for a jury trial on damages. Despite going into the trial unable to dispute liability or causation, our transportation litigation attorneys go way above and way beyond, implementing key strategies before and during the contentious three-day trial.
After the Plaintiff presented testimony from 3 experts as well as several family members, our team presented testimony from two experts. The Plaintiff asked the jury for $13,080,000 in damages, comprised of $800,000 in past pain and suffering, $12 million for future pain and suffering, and $280,000 for a 3-level cervical disc replacement surgery. The jury deliberated for only 40 minutes before returning a verdict that awarded a significantly less amount of $150,000.
This result is tremendously positive for our clients, who trusted Jennifer, Allison, and our team to protect their business and to achieve their business objectives.