After a six-day jury trial in Oregon’s Multnomah County Circuit Court, on March 28, 2012, Preg O’Donnell & Gillett member Alex Wylie of POG’s Portland office received a defense verdict in favor of the firm’s trucking company client and its driver.
The Plaintiff had unrelated open heart surgery in October 2008 and claimed that the January 2009 accident at issue caused his sternum to never properly heal. The Plaintiff had four subsequent surgeries in an attempt to address the issue and racked up $140,000 in medical expenses. He claimed permanent disability, alleged wage loss and wage impairment damages of $700,000. In addition, the Plaintiff asked the jury for $1,250,000 in pain and suffering damages. The Plaintiff had been offered a six figure settlement before trial.
Lawyers for the Plaintiff called seven different experts to testify at trial, including treating doctors, a biomechanical engineer, a human factors engineer, an IME physician/surgeon, a forensic accountant, and a vocational rehabilitation expert.
In the end, the jury unanimously agreed with the defense theme of “misplaced blame”, and found that our clients were not legally responsible for the accident. Jen Davis and Emily Jones in the Portland office assisted Alex on the trial team, and founding member Eric Gillett provided invaluable guidance and support from the Seattle office.
This is POG’s second favorable jury result of 2012. In the first trial a jury awarded Plaintiff only her medical expenses. Subsequently, the trial court ruled that it was an error to award only medical expenses, but no general damages, and ordered a new trial on damages only.
POG lawyers tried seven cases to verdict in 2011, with six defense verdicts, and have now tried 19 cases in the last three years in five different venues. These cases range from death to construction defect with demands for as much as $25 million dollars.
