Achievements & Results

Jury Rejects Amputee’s Claim for Four Million Dollars

Lee Weatherly and Kristen Thompson defended an automobile driver who crashed into a motorcyclist. The crash led to the amputation of plaintiff’s left leg and almost $750,000 in medical bills. While preparing for trial, Lee discovered a video from the investigating officer’s dashboard camera that contained a witness’s statement supporting the Defendant’s claim that the Plaintiff suddenly made a U-Turn in front of her. Although during discovery, Plaintiff had admitted to drinking a single beer shortly before the accident, the defense team discovered that the Plaintiff had been drinking much more alcohol and had been seen coming out of a second previously undisclosed bar shortly before the accident. The defense retained a pharmacologist and presented overwhelming evidence that the Plaintiff presented evidence by a prominent expert accident reconstructionist from Charleston and a well-known toxicologist to counter Lee’s defense. Prior to Lee and Kristen’s involvement other insurance companies had paid the Plaintiff almost $200,000 based on the strength of the Plaintiff’s case as originally presented. At trial, the Plaintiff asked the jury to return four million dollars. The jury retuned a unanimous verdict that the Defendant was not negligent in any way and awarded the plaintiff nothing.