Defense Verdict: Orange County, Florida (Trucking)
Tampa Partners, Mike Reed and Chris Cazin, and Tampa Associates, Sara J. Thompson and Jocelyn Nance, Esq., obtained a defense verdict in a trucking negligence case in Orange County, Florida.
This case arose from a trucking accident that occurred on July 28, 2015. Our defendant driver was stopped in front of a car dealership in Orlando, driving a tractor trailer loaded with vehicles for delivery. Plaintiff was the passenger in a car stopped directly behind our vehicle. While backing up in an attempt to maneuver into the dealership, one of the vehicles on the tractor trailer impacted the Plaintiff’s vehicle.
Our driver was issued a citation for improper backing. Despite evidence that showed the only damage to both vehicles were minor scrapes, Plaintiff claimed that the tractor-trailer pushed his vehicle back 30 feet and caused major damage to his vehicle. Plaintiff further claimed widespread disk herniations in his neck and lower back, necessitating two surgeries, and over $275k in past medical bills and $800k in future medical expenses and treatment.
Throughout seven years of litigation, multiple good faith attempts to settle the case were rejected. Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for $4 million in closing arguments, but the jury found no negligence on the part of our driver that caused injury and returned a complete defense verdict in under two hours.