Jury Trials - - Is Your Lawyer Really A Trial Lawyer
A lot of attorneys say they are "trial lawyers" or "trial attorneys". Truth is, most cases settle without ever going to trial. And that is a good thing. Taking a case to a jury is a huge gamble. It is very expensive to take a serious case to jury trial. And, it takes a lot of time. It is usually better to settle your case if at all possible.
But some cases just can't settle, and there are many reasons. Sometimes the defendant won't offer enough. Sometimes the Plaintiff wants too much. Sometimes there are legal issues that need to be settled and they can only be settled by a trial.
If your case has to go to trial, make sure your attorney has the experience necessary to try your case. Don't be afraid to ask your attorney how many cases he/she has tried and what type of cases they have tried. For instance, you might not want a lawyer who has never tried a civil case to try a trucking accident case, a products liability case or a medical malpractice case. You might want to ask the lawyer to associate with another attorney or firm that has the experience needed to take on a very serious case. We do that all the time.
Listed in this category are some examples of trials in which I have participated and won. There are many trials in which I have participated and lost. Good lawyers try cases. They win some. They lose some. Any lawyer who says they have never lost a case has not tried very many.
Over the years, I have tried many, many cases to a jury. Like all lawyers, I have won some and lost some. Listed below are some of the more significant jury verdicts I have obtained for my clients. Remember, every case is different, and the results below were based on the facts of each case. No lawyer can guarantee any result for any case.
$1.5 million - Products Liability - defective ladder. The extension ladder being used by the client had a defect which created what is called a "false lock", which means the extension part of the ladder looks and sounds like it is locked when it isn't. In this case, the ladder appeared to be locked and it wasn't. The client was on the ladder and was more than 10' off the ground. The ladder collapsed and he fell, breaking both arms and suffering many other injuries. The case was tried in federal court in Muskogee.
$1.3 million - Wrongful Death - Medical Negligence - a man in his 40's went to the local emergency room in the small town where he lived. He had complaints of chest pain and shortness of breath. An x-ray was taken and it showed he had pneumonia, but they never told him. Instead, they sent him home. A few days later he died from complications related to the pneumonia.
$1.22 million - Breach of contract - a local small business owner had a contract with an out of state company to make "firestop" products. These products are used in high rise buildings, military vessels and other places to stop the spread of fire from one room or compartment to another. Unknown to my client, the out of state company changed the formula from which the product was made. This caused the products to be defective and unfit for use. We sued the company in Creek County District Court. The jury awarded damages. The judge ordered the Defendant to pay an additional $150,000.00 in legal fees. The Defendant appealed. We won the appeal and by the time the Defendant paid the judgment, it had grown to more than $1.7 million with interest. You can read more about the case at the following link http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=441595
$950,000 - Products Liability - Defective Blanket. This case was also tried in federal court in Muskogee. It involved a Sunbeam electric blanket. Sunbeam's blankets were at one time very dangerous. They were designed in such a way to allow the blanket to short circuit and catch fire. In this case, an elderly woman's blanket caught fire in the middle of the night. She tried to get up and get away from the blanket, but got tangled up in it and she died from the fire. The jury not only awarded actual damages but also "punitive damages" against Sunbeam in the amount of $500,000.00. Sunbeam appealed the case but settled it while the appeal was pending.
$750,000.00 - Products Liability - Defective seat belt. In this case, the client was driving a Buick LeSabre. Another driver crossed the center line and hit him almost head on. His seat belt did not perform and he hit his head on the windshield. His face and eyes were severely fractured. We proved at trial that General Motors made seat belts that would not work if too much slack got in them and that it was too easy for slack to get in the seat belt. We showed the jury that the seat belts GM made for its cars they sold in Europe did not allow slack to get in the belt, and if they had just used the same seat belt system, our client would not have been so severely injured. The jury found in our favor. GM appealed and lost. By the time they paid the judgment, it had grown to more than $925,000.00.
$500,000.00 - Premises Liability - An elderly woman and her husband were going to shop at a Sutherland's store here in Tulsa. As she went through the automatic door, it closed on her, knocked her down and broke her hip. She was taken to the hospital and the doctor did surgery on her hip. She was never quite the same after that, and she died a little more than 2 years later. Her husband sued Sutherland's, the company that made the automatic door and the company that was supposed to maintain the door. All the Defendants except Sutherland's settled before trial. The jury found Sutherland's responsible and awarded damages. Sutherland's settled after trial. This case was tried in Tulsa County.
$500,000.00 - Medical Negligence - Failure to diagnose a subarachnoid hemorrhage (or a bleed in the brain). This case was also tried in federal court in Muskogee. The client went to an emergency room with a very severe headache. He had other symptoms (nause and vomiting) that should have been recognized by the doctors as a possible bleed in the brain. They did not make the diagnosis and he died a few days later. His wife sued the emergency room doctors. The jury found in favor of one of the doctors but held the other one accountable.
