$8.9M Verdict After $25K Offer in Drunk Driving Collision
Driving home one rainy evening changed Khail Parris’ client’s life forever when an oncoming vehicle suddenly veered into his lane and struck him head-on. The injuries suffered were quite extensive – several fractured ribs, fractured femur, broken wrist, ruptured spleen, multiple other internal injuries, pelvic displacement, and a TBI. It was determined that the driver of the other vehicle was intoxicated and eventually pled guilty to felony-level DWI. His insurer, however, strenuously disputed their responsibility, as well as the injuries claimed by the plaintiff, and offered their policy limit of $25,000. A settlement demand of just under $5.5M was rejected, so Parris knew they’d be heading to trial. He reached out to Focus Graphics for multiple exhibits that would show just how severely their client was injured. It was decided to create both a mechanism of injury (MOI) animation to show how the collision occurred, as well as a compilation animation of all of the surgical procedures the client had to endure. Supporting those animations were several colorizations for the more severe injuries and a shocking injury summary board that really brought home how badly he was hurt in the collision.
The insurance company continued to argue their liability, citing other reasons for the collision, claiming Parris’ client was partially at fault and the weather was also a factor. After over a week of testimony, Parris filed a motion for a directed verdict, which they received. The judge ruled that both the weather and the plaintiff’s actions were limited, but the effect of the other driver’s intoxication was clear and the fault lay with him. With liability established, the jury was now able to simply focus on compensatory damages and awarded almost $9M, plus decided he would be eligible for punitive damages, which would be determined at a future trial.
“We use Focus Graphics extensively for our cases, and often request multiple types of exhibits for each one. The usefulness of these visuals, both for our testifying physicians and for the jury, are incomparable. Even when we settle in mediation, having these tools to show the defense lets them know that we are prepared to take it further. We did a lot of different exhibits for this case and each of them served its purpose very well, resulting in a phenomenal verdict for our client and sending the message to insurance companies to be a bit more reasonable earlier in the process.”
~Khail Parris, Esq., Lancaster, CA | Parris Law Firm
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