Jury Awards $228,000 in Highway Collision: Defendant's Final Offer to Settle was $6,500

Our Connecticut Personal Injury Attorneys represented a Connecticut attorney who was injured as a result of a motor vehicle collision that occurred on April 19, 2016 on 1-84 East in Plainville. The defendant crossed the entire three lanes of travel, from the left lane to the right lane, and struck, head on, Plaintiffs vehicle on its driver's side. Our client's vehicle sustained heavy damage and Defendant's vehicle was totaled. Defendant admitted liability only after jury selection, the afternoon before trial.

The issue in this case was the extent and value of our client's injuries. Our client testified that all of her injuries had resolved except for the left shoulder injury which persists to this day.

Defendant challenged the extent and the value of these injuries.

Though there was no permanency rating by a treating physician, the jury was free to infer permanency based on evidence that the effects of her injuries continue up to the present day. Our client sought only non-economic damages as she did not seek compensation for medical bills, lost wages or property damage. This means that the client was solely seeking recovery for past and future pain and suffering, the loss or reduction of the enjoyment of life's activities and mental and emotional distress caused by the collision. There is no mathematical formula that the law prescribes on the jury to calculate these non-economic damages.

Jury selection, which proved to be the most important part of the trial lasted two days, and evidence lasted one day. Our client was the only person to testify at trial, except for one question asked to the defendant on cross examination. Defense counsel opted to not call a single witness.

At the close of evidence and argument, the jury deliberated, and returned their verdict in about 45 minutes, in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $228,000, which was $221,500 greater than the insurance company's final offer of $6,500.

Our Connecticut Personal Injury Attorneys work as a team to achieve all of our notable successes. One trial tactic that is always approached with a team mentality is filing an "offer of compromise", which is an official offer to settle with the defense that is filed with the court. If the specific guidelines of the offer of compromise are followed, a jury verdict that is greater than the offer of compromise imposes an additional 8% interest on the total award. This means that, in this case, because the jury's verdict was greater than our offer of compromise, our Connecticut Trial Lawyers were able to collect over $15,000 on top of the $228,000 verdict for our client.