FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Natasha K. Alcivar and
Arthur J. Laplante, attorneys in the
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, office of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, recently recovered on behalf of their multinational telecommunications company client a zero dollar verdict in a lawsuit arising out of a rear-end collision. Plaintiffs had sought $7.15 million in damages, including $3.1 million in economic damages. The case was tried in the Palm Beach County (Florida) Circuit Court, a venue in which large jury verdicts are commonplace.
Plaintiff driver claimed that he suffered a lower back injury as a result of his involvement in the collision and that he was unable to return to work in any capacity after the accident. The company admitted liability and that defendants caused injury to plaintiff driver’s neck. But it demonstrated that plaintiff driver did not complain of lower back pain at the scene of the accident, that no findings of a lower back injury were made when he was seen at the emergency room the next day, and that there were no findings of lower back injury when he was seen 18 days after the accident by a board certified neurologist. Plaintiff driver's first documented lower back complaint was 19 days after the accident. It was also shown that after the subject collision, plaintiff driver was involved in a motorcycle accident and two automobile accidents, none of which he reported to the physicians who treated him after the subject rear-end collision.
An accident reconstruction expert testified on behalf of the company that the collision low impact, with an impact speed of 7.7 mph and a delta V of 3.7 mph. An orthopedic expert, neurologist, and radiologist testified that the accident caused no injury to plaintiff driver's lower back and that plaintiff had pre-existing degenerative disk disease. The orthopedic expert also testified that plaintiff driver’s subsequent vehicular accidents were more likely to have caused the lower back injury than the subject accident.
The defense suggested at closing of the three-week trial that the jury award between $25,000 and $45,000 for treatment for plaintiff driver's sprained neck and $25,000 for time lost from work. But the jury declined to award any damages on both accounts. The jury found that defendant driver’s negligence was not a legal cause of loss, injury or damage to plaintiff driver and that plaintiff driver had not sustained a permanent injury.
Because the company had admitted liability and all of its experts had testified that plaintiff driver sustained a self-limiting cervical strain/sprain, the defense asked the court to re-charge the jury. The judge instructed the jury to go back and answer "yes" to the question of whether defendant driver's negligence caused injury to plaintiff driver and to award some damages for his neck injury. The jury accordingly came back with an award of $148,000 for plaintiff driver.
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