Our client was the rear-seat passenger in a car service arranged to take her back and forth to medical appointments. The driver of her car caused an accident and refused to call 911. After our client was dropped off at home she filed a police report and sought medical treatment for, among other things, neck, back, and tooth issues.

When the transportation company refused to participate in the litigation we sought and obtained a default. A jury returned a verdict of $5,000,000 in an undefended trial. We then partially collected on that judgment from the defaulted company, which later filed for bankruptcy, and pursued other available avenues to make our client whole.

Our law firm represented a family who suffered a life-altering loss on Christmas Day. The patriarch of the family had recently become a grandfather. When all the family gathered at his house for Christmas festivities, he and his adult son ran out to the local gas station to grab soda and chips. It was only a few blocks from his house. The son drove his father there and began the short drive home. Tragically, another driver (a young man headed to his own parent's house for Christmas) blew a solid red light causing a massive T-Bone collision. The son-driver sustained very serious orthopedic injuries and a traumatic brain injury (TBI). His father-passenger spent some time in the hospital before tragically dying as a result of his injuries.

Although the available insurance policy limits were only $100,000/$300,000 our law firm filed a lawsuit and thoroughly investigated the case. Liability wasn't really an issue, as the defendant-driver admitted fault, but we believed he must have been distracted to cause such a terrible crash. After retaining a cell phone forensic expert we learned that the defendant-driver was using his cell phone to search the internet for prostitutes.

We sought leave to amend to seek punitive damages. We demanded a settlement in excess of the policy limits to settle because, in our view, the at-fault driver's insurance company committed bad faith by not tendering the full policy limits much sooner and allowing us to uncover this damning evidence. That insurance company ultimately agreed to pay us $5 Million total ($4 Million for the wrongful death and $1 Million for the son's injuries) without having to try the first case or even file a lawsuit for bad faith.

Yesterday afternoon, after nearly five hours of deliberation, a Ft. Myers jury delivered a resounding verdict, awarding our 22-year-old client $3.2 million in damages stemming from a T-bone car crash in 2021. This remarkable decision marks the end of a fiercely contested legal battle over liability, cause, and permanent brain injury, against State Farm, the defendant's insurer. They alleged that our client ran a stop sign, while we maintained that their client failed to yield, was distracted or didn't notice our client, who was proceeding through an intersection after she had legally stopped.

The trial was bifurcated. In Phase I, held a few months ago, a jury found the defendant 15% liable. Despite our disappointment with this result, we remained steadfast in our pursuit of justice.

In Phase II, with a new jury, we sought $28.8 million in damages, comprising of $101,000 for past medical expenses, $702,000 for future medical expenses, $3 million for past non-economic damages, and $25 million for future non-economic damages. In short, our jury denied the Defendant's allegation that our client's injuries are not permanent. They awarded the exact medical damages we asked them for - a guarantee that our client will be able to afford care for her traumatic brain injury for the remainder of her projected life (until she's 82 years old).

Our client, a then freshman at FGU who had recently moved to Ft. Meyers from Broward County, will graduate from college this Sunday. Evidence showed that after the crash, she altered her course load, reduced her credit hours, changed her major, and is suffering from photophobia, bilateral tinnitus, anxiety, depression, and bullying - all as a result of a brain injury from the crash. Given her previous TBI as a high school sophomore, we argued she was an eggshell plaintiff. The defense notably refrained from recommending any specific amount for the jury to award.

The case highlights the incredible resilience of our young brain injury client, who persevered through adversity and overcame the challenges posed by her permanent injuries. As the bailiff noted after the verdict was entered, "Significant verdicts like this are rare in Lee County. We’re used to seeing $0 awards" emphasizing the importance of this outcome in this hostile jurisdiction.

We invite those interested in learning more or covering this case to reach out to us. We know the importance of investigating and representing clients with invisible injuries as a result of traumatic brain injuries. We are eager to share our client's compelling story with the wider community.

Our law firm represented the estate of one brother who died in a tragic truck crash, and his brother, who survived the crash. The two brothers were on a motorcycle headed home from band practice. It was a bit foggy but they were familiar with the area. The road they were on had one lane going each way. They were first rear-ended by a drunk driver, causing them to spill out into the roadway already with serious injuries. Shortly thereafter, a fully-loaded 80,000lb dairy truck came barrelling down the foggy road driving too fast for the conditions, and ran over one brother. The other brother got hit while trying to dive out of the way.

Liability was hotly contested, as the trucking company wanted to allege that it was all the first impact with the drunk driver that caused the death and injuries. They denied that the second surviving brother even got hit by the truck. However, after we litigated the case aggressively they decided to go from very, very low settlement offers to a $3 Million global settlement for the family to address all claims.