Les McFatter, a Shareholder in the Tallahassee office, obtained a favorable verdict for his client in an admitted liability trial in Calhoun County, Florida. The Plaintiff suffered serious injuries in a single vehicle accident including multiple skull fractures and scarring and disfigurement to her head, face and arm that required surgery. In addition, Plaintiff claimed physical injuries to her right shoulder, elbow and wrist, all of which required surgical intervention, as well as traumatic brain injury with permanent cognitive deficit and depression secondary to post traumatic stress disorder. After a five day jury trial Plaintiff asked the jury for nearly 1.8 million in economic and non-economic damages. The Defendants successfully argued comparative negligence on the part of the plaintiff as well as negligence of an unnamed third party pursuant to Fabre v. Marin thereby reducing Defendant’s liability for the accident to 50%. After set-offs for collateral source payments and apportionment of liability are figured into the equation, the net verdict for Plaintiff should be less than $60,000. Post-trial motions are currently pending.
