Defense Verdict: General Liability (Volusia County)

Jacksonville Partners, Rick Ramsey and Kyle Leigh Schmitt, Esq., recently obtained a complete defense verdict in Volusia County, Florida.

The case arose from an alleged concussion suffered by a college soccer player in 2013. Plaintiff sued a Central Florida university, its head female soccer coach, and a certified athletic trainer, alleging our clients were negligent in managing the player’s concussion, leading to a TBI with depression, sleep and auditory problems, and PTSD. Plaintiff underwent a multitude of treatments, including speech therapy, occupational therapy, vison therapy and hormone therapy. Their expert submitted a Life Care Plan of approximately $400k.

Through diligent discovery, the trial team discovered that Plaintiff had a history of concussions prior to the subject incident. Team records showed that on the day of the subject incident, Plaintiff disobeyed her coaches and participated in full-contact practice when she had been advised not to do so. Medical records in the months following her injury showed that she did not properly disclose her ongoing symptoms to the team doctors and regularly downplayed the severity of how she was feeling.

At trial, Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Schmitt successfully impeached several of Plaintiff’s fact witnesses, showing that they were lying in an attempt to bolster Plaintiff’s claims. In some cases, their testimony contradicted that of the Plaintiff herself.

Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for $7.5 million in closing. The jury was out for 58 minutes before returning a complete defense verdict.

Congratulations Rick and Kyle on this outstanding outcome.