Thompson Coe Attorney Obtains $46k Verdict Against $2.9 Million Claims
Feb 1, 2023
Houston attorney Greg Holloway obtained a jury verdict of only $46,000 against a Plaintiff’s claims for $2.9 million in a liability case.
Background
In 2018, an employee of Houston Distributing Company, Inc. was driving a company van when he reached for his cell phone and drove into the back of Plaintiff’s Ford F-150 pick-up truck. Prior to the accident, Plaintiff did not have any recent cervical or lumbar issues on record. After the accident, Plaintiff received trigger point injections, epidural steroid injections, and surgical fusions to his cervical and lumbar spine.
Through a neurosurgeon expert, we argued that the spine surgeries performed on Plaintiff were unnecessary and that less costly and less invasive treatments were reasonable.
Analysis
The jury agreed with the Defendant and awarded Plaintiff only $36,000 in past medical expenses and $0 in future medical expenses, opposed to $602,000 in past medical and $1.2 million in future medical as argued by Plaintiff. The jury also awarded only $5,000 in past physical pain and mental anguish and $5,000 in physical impairment in the past. The jury did not award any damages for future physical pain and suffering, loss of earning capacity in the past, physical impairment in the future, disfigurement in the past and future, or medical expenses in the future.
The case was Cause No. 2019-19739; Miguel Acuna v. Houston Distributing Company, Inc.; In the 190th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas.