Case Type
Tractor Trailer Wreck/Personal Injury
Settlement
$1,850,000
Year
2016
Settlement was obtained for a client who was rear-ended on the interstate by a tractor trailer, and suffered spinal and head injuries. In addition to recovering for the client’s injuries, Will Owens and Kimberly Miller sought to recover additional/punitive damages based on the trucking company’s alleged negligent hiring and retention of a driver who was not physically qualified to operate a commercial motor vehicle. To accomplish this feat, the firm used its nationally recognized experts in the fields of accident reconstruction, trucking industry standards of care, life care planning, and forensic psychology. The firm secured the sworn testimony of 7 witnesses who were at the scene of the wreck. Will Owens traveled to Georgia and Texas to take depositions of the trucking company representatives, including the safety director and CEO.
The case was litigated in Federal Court in the Middle District of North Carolina. The case was featured in Lawyer’s Weekly Magazine. In addition to the original article on the case, on Feb. 13, 2017, N.C. Lawyer’s Weekly listed this case in their annual list of the largest settlements/verdicts in the entire State for the year. This was the second consecutive year the magazine listed an O&M cases as one of the largest in the State for the year. (See 2015 below.)
Case Type
Car Wreck/Personal Injury
Settlement
$1,500,00
Year
2015
Settlement was obtained for a client who suffered a Comminuted and Severe Right Femur Fracture, non displaced neck fracture through the left C6 lamina and left C7 facet, non displaced right first rib fracture, broad based scalp hematoma and avulsion, mild to moderate cognitive deficits in attention and concentration skills, retention of information and intermediate and long term memory loss, left pelvis fracture, MRSA, pulmonary embolism and infarction, sepsis and PTSD. The action arose out of motor vehicle collision that occurred when the Defendant pulled out in front of the client’s vehicle causing a T-bone collision. Attorneys Kimberly Miller and Will Owens filed a lawsuit against both the owner and driver of the vehicle Defendant was operating in order to get to their insurance coverage. In their response to the lawsuit, the insurance company insisted that the client was partially at fault in causing the wreck and should therefore receive no recovery under NC’s Doctrine of Contributory Negligence. Settlement was reached after depositions were taken in the case and after Owens & Miller hired a Vocational Rehabilitation Expert who opined on their client’s ongoing disability from the collision and gave a life care plan. The case was featured in Lawyer’s Weekly Magazine. In addition to the original article on the case, on Feb. 13, 2016, N.C. Lawyer’s Weekly listed this case in their annual list of the largest settlements/verdicts in the entire State for the year.
