Jury Verdict Favors Defendant

The plaintiff in this case alleged he suffered severe disabling injuries as a result of a motor vehicle accident resulting from a grease-trap overflow at our client's restaurant.

The plaintiff alleged several herniated discs in his lumbar and cervical spine, with radiculopathy, requiring multiple spinal injections. After the accident, the plaintiff was declared totally disabled by the Social Security Administration as a result of his alleged injuries. The last settlement demand before trial was $1,200,000.

Our primary defense at trial was that the plaintiff's injuries were pre-existing in nature and not causally related to the accident. The defense presented testimony of an orthopedic physician, and a biomechanical expert. The jury rendered a verdict in our client’s favor, finding that plaintiff’s alleged injuries were all pre-existing. Thus, despite a prior liability finding against our client, we avoided any damage exposure by successfully arguing to the jury that the damages were all pre-existing.