$2,345,940.17 verdict sets new high in Gordon County, GA
Fri., 3/9/07, Calhoun, GA.
In a scene reminiscent of the 1982 Paul Newman movie, "The Verdict," the jury after three hours of deliberation Thursday afternoon sent a note to the judge asking if they were limited by the amount the plaintiff asked for. In closing argument I had asked for a verdict of approximately $1.2 million for our client's permanently disabling leg injury. When we got that question from the jury, my first thought was that I don't drink anywhere near enough to fit the Paul Newman role in the movie.
Today we won a $2,345,940.17 jury verdict against a Pennsylvania trucking company in the Superior Court of Gordon County, Calhoun, Georgia. The verdict was broken down as follows: compensatory damages: $1,742,845.70, attorney fees due to bad faith in the transaction, $580,948.57, expenses of litigation $ 22,145.90. Medical expenses were $112,228. The highest offer from defendant's insurance company before trial was $125,000, going up to $400,000 on third day of trial. This was nearly three times the highest previous verdict in the history of Gordon County.
The specificity of the figures, down to the penny, helps to refute any allegation that it was a random verdict by a "runaway jury." These jurors were all deeply conservative northwest Georgia folks who were determined to follow the law and the facts wherever they led, and to do the right thing.
It was a very good week.
Johnson v. Clarendon National Insurance Company, American Trans-Freight, LLC, ATF Trucking, LLC, ATF Logistics, LLC, and Robert W. Carnley, CIVIL ACTION FILE NO. 04-CV-43532
Vehicles turning left must yield to oncoming traffic
All too often we see the results of vehicular crashes that occur when one driver attempts a left turn across the oncoming traffic lane without yielding to oncoming vehicles.
When making a left turn at an intersection, alley or driveway, yield the right-of-
way to all traffic from the opposite direction, then proceed when it is safe to do so.
Georgia Code § 40-6-71 states the legal rule:
The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road, or driveway shall yield the right of way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close thereto as to constitute an immediate hazard.
The Georgia Pattern Jury Instructions summarize the rule as follows:
The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction that is within the intersection or so close to it as to constitute an immediate hazard.
This rule is important because we have to have clear rules about who has the right of way on the road, so there is no ambiguity about whose turn it is to proceed at an intersection. It's important because when a driver chooses to turn across a traffic lane without yielding to vehicles coming from the opposite directions, it can cause injury and sometimes even death to innocent people. Ironically, it is seldom the driver of the car turning left that is hurt badly because he or she is shielded from the impact that happens on the passenger side of his or her car.
And yet we continue to see drivers flinging themselves and their vehicles across oncoming traffic lanes -- like possums crossing a country road -- without even looking at oncoming vehicles. Too often it is a driver or passenger in an oncoming vehicle who is injured while trying desperately to avoid hitting the vehicle that blithely turns across their lane.
