Metro Verdicts Monthly reports on a jury verdict in a five car rear end chain reaction car crash in Cecil County, Maryland. The case was not exactly an accident lawyer’s delight. Cecil County is a tough jurisdiction for personal injury cases because, historically, jury verdicts have been relatively low. Adding to the concern, there was a soft tissue/exacerbation of a previous injury which means there is no real objective evidence that the Plaintiff was injured in the car accident.
The jury awarded $103,130 which is a pretty good verdict for a soft tissue/exacerbation of a prior disc injury case. It probably did not hurt that the Defendant driver was driving a commercial vehicle, which allowed the Plaintiff’s lawyer to point to a concrete company instead of just the driver. Moreover, the Defendant driver was also driving a Ford F-350, which helps further the argument that Plaintiff suffered injuries in the accident. (I wish MVM would include how much property damage was in the accident.)
Is this a good verdict? I think so. We don’t have all the facts. We do know that the verdict actually came back closer to the way the defendants’ accident attorney viewed the case. The offer was $40,000; the demand was $300,000.
Still, it sounds like a good verdict in a case that certainly had its share of weaknesses.