Defense Verdict: Automobile Negligence (Miami-Dade County, Florida)

Miami partner Jaime Baca and associate Lester Rodriguez obtained a defense verdict in an automobile negligence case in Miami-Dade County last week.

This case arose from an incident in which the Plaintiff, a 62-year old woman, was struck by our insured driver while walking across the parking lot of a big box retail store on Black Friday. As a result, Plaintiff suffered a severe ankle fracture that was managed with surgery but left her with residual pain and a limp, as well as a recommendation for ankle replacement.

Our client was looking for a parking space when Plaintiff ran into the side of his vehicle as she walked between two parked cars. Plaintiff alleged that our driver was distracted and accelerating through the busy parking lot, but cell phone records showed she was on a call at the time of the collision and it was likely that she was the one who was distracted. According to the testimony of our accident reconstruction expert,  our client could not have perceived the Plaintiff walking between parked cars and was not able to stop in time as a result.

After a three-day trial, Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for $1.75 million. The jury returned a complete defense verdict in under an hour.

Congratulations Jaime, Lester, the entire team that worked on this file for this excellent result.