Fort Lauderdale West Partners Peter Weinstein and Greg Willis recently achieved a defense verdict in an automobile liability lawsuit.
The four-day trial occurred in Fort Pierce, Florida. The defendant failed to yield the right of way at a stop sign when the Plaintiff had no stop sign when entering the intersection. There was no evidence of either vehicle speeding but the defense argued the Plaintiff had the last clear chance to avoid the accident as the defendant had entered the intersection first and had almost cleared the intersection when the impact occurred. After conservative care, the plaintiff underwent medical treatment for which he was billed over $200,000, before incurring an additional $115,000 in medical bills. Dr. Zeide estimated that reasonable charges would be $28,900.
After almost two hours of deliberation the jury found the plaintiff 56% at fault and the defendant 44% at fault and awarded about $65,000 in past medical bills for a net verdict of $28,600. Plaintiff refused to accept less than the policy limits of $300,000 and the verdict was slightly less than the defendant offered to settle the case.
Special thanks to Susette Gruebele, Leo Farias, Jennifer Smith, and Karen Henely for their research and support work on this matter.
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