Case Examples

$81,219.00 JURY VERDICT IN MOTOR VEHICLE WRECK

Case Name	Harvey v. Boyd
Case Number	CV-2009-65
Court	Perry County Circuit
Report Type	verdict
Decided By	jury
Facts	Defendant failed to yield at stop sign and pulled out in front of client, a 16 year old female. Nevertheless, defendant denied fault.
Damages	Client complained of shoulder pain for 3 1/2 years, but there was no objective test showing injury. Treating Dr. testified she may have microscopic tears in her shoulder muscles and that her pain, more likely than not, is permanent.
Medical $	$7,533.82
Demand $	policy limits
Wage Loss $	$200.00
Offer $	10,000
Property Damage $	$3,900.00
Verdict $	$81,219.00
Comments	Used techniques from "David Ball on Damages", "Rules of The Road", "Polarizing the Case" by Friedman, and "Reptile" by Ball and Kennan. Perfect client: A straight "A" full time student, who was working her way through school as a nanny. The wreck occurred as she was on her way to a "Food Bank" at a church were she volunteers for the needy. She had a few long gaps in treatment and instances where shoulder pain was re-aggravated after the wreck. The verdict was unanimous.
Type of Case	Motor Vehicle Wreck
Reporting Attorney	plaintiff David S. Mitchell P.A.
Include Name in Report	yes
Date of Incident	10-03-06
Date of Trial	04-14-2010

$110,000.00 SLIP AND FALL ACCIDENT

Case. No.: CV-2003-490
Court: Crittendon County Circuit Court
Judge or Jury: Jury
Type of Case: Slip and Fall
Date of Incident: 8/22/02
Wage Loss: Plaintiff claimed undetermined loss of earning capacity

FACTS: Plaintiff, a 34 yr-old male commercial truck driver suffered a slip and fall accident in a convenience store fracturing his patella (knee cap). The convenience store had chronic problems with condensation forming on air conditioning duct in the ceiling occasionally causing water to drip onto the tile floor. Two (2) years before the slip and fall accident, Plaintiff suffered a hyper-extension injury to the same knee causing a torn ACL, a torn MCL, a peroneal nerve injury causing a slight drop foot, and an evulsion fracture resulting in free bone fragment floating within the joint. Nevertheless, Plaintiff was able to continue his employment as a truck driver until this slip and fall accident.

DAMAGES/INJURIES:
As a result of the fractured patella, Plaintiff's primary care physician recommended he quit truck driving and seek employment which would be less stressful on his knee. Plaintiff followed this advice and obtained employment selling cell phones but is currently making approximately $20,000 less per year.

Medical $:3,000.00 (approximatley)
Offer $: 40,0000
Demand $: 170,000
Property Damage $:N/A
Wage Loss $:
Settlement $: 110,000

$375,000 EPHEDRA SETTLEMENT

Case Name: Barnett, et al vs. GX Marketing, Inc. & SK Laboratories
Case. No.: USDC 4-03-CV-00482JMMM
Court: United States Federal District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas
Judge or Jury: Jury
Type of Case: Ephedra Herbal Supplement/Product Liability
Date of Incident: August 16, 2001
Date of Trial: November 8, 2004
Medicals: $5,000
Wage Loss: Plaintiff claimed undetermined loss of earning capacity
Initial Demand: $1,000,000
Initial Offer: $0 before mediation

SETTLEMENT: $375,000.000

FACTS: Plaintiff, a 24-year old wife and mother, purchased FASTRAK, an ephedra and caffeine based herbal supplement, for weight loss. She suffered a sudden grand mal seizure about one (1) hour after taking a single FASTRAK tablet, causing retrograde amnesia for a period of one (1) to two (2) years and mild cognitive impairment.

GX Marketing, Inc., the distributor/supplier of the FASTRAK, had virtually no assets and filed for bankruptcy protection.

Defendant, SK Laboratories, Inc., the manufacturer of the FASTRAK, apparently had insignificant assets but, carried liability insurance with limits of $1,000,000.

PLAINTIFF’S EXPERTS:
Dr. William “Bill” Gurley of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, a Doctor of Pharmokentics, opined the drug, which was taken off the market in 2004 by the United States Food and Drug Administration, was unreasonably dangerous, causes seizures and strokes, and provides no health benefit.

Plaintiffs’ treating neurologist, Dr. David Oberlander, testified that the FASTRAK Plaintiff ingested caused her grand mal seizure and brain damage.

Also, Plaintiffs’ expert psychologist, Dr. James Moneypenny, opined Plaintiff suffered anxiety, depression, mild cognitive impairment, retrograde amnesia and short term memory loss as a result of her seizure.

DEFENDANT’S EXPERT:
Defendant, SK Laboratories, offered no expert testimony as to the efficacy or safety of FASTRAK; but, through their expert neuropsychologist, Dr. Gary Souheaver, strongly disputed Plaintiff’s damages. Dr. Souheaver testified, in his opinion, a single seizure could not cause organic brain damage, permanent amnesia or permanent cognitive impairment.

16 MILLION DOLLAR JUDGMENT AGAINST THE ESTATE OF TUPAC SHAKUR

The law office of David S. Mitchell, P.A. obtained a 16 million dollar judgment against the estate of rapper, Tupac Shakur, on behalf of a 24 year old Pine Bluff, Arkansas woman who was severely injured by a gunshot at one of his concerts.

PRODUCT LIABILITY

In the last few years the law office of David S. Mitchell, P.A. successfully obtained two multimillion dollar product liability settlements against a domestic distributor of pharmaceuticals and, also, a high six figure settlement against a foreign multi-national manufacturer of industrial equipment.

$650,000.00 SETTLEMENT AROUND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CARRIER IN QUARRY ACCIDENT

Case Name: Mitchell vs. APAC, Inc. - Arkansas
Case #: CIV 2001-402-11
Court: Sebastian Co. Circuit Court
Judge or Jury: Jury
Type of Case: PI
Date of Incident: October 7, 1998
Date of Trial: March 18, 19, 20, 21, 2002
Medicals: $64,467.36
Wage Loss: $186,000.00 to $613,000.00
Initial Demand: $2,000,000.00
Offer: $0 before closing argument
Settlement: $650,000.00, plus settled around workers’ compensation carrier

Facts: At the time of the accident, Plaintiff was a 27 year old licensed blaster employed by Austin Powder Company performing blasting services at Defendant’s rock quarry in Van Buren, Arkansas. Defendant, the quarry operator, requested Plaintiff blast a section of rock outside a 70 foot crack which traversed across a corner at the top of the high wall. Before any blasting occurred, and while Plaintiff was preparing the area, this section of rock outside the crack suddenly fell with Plaintiff 70 feet fracturing his hip, shoulder and wrist. Plaintiff needs a hip replacement in the near future. At trial, Plaintiff proved the Defendant violated Mine, Safety and Health Administration in allowing persons to be in this area of the quarry. Defendant argued that Plaintiff, the blaster in charge, was aware of the condition and was contributorily negligent in proceeding to work in this area. The court allowed a punitive damage instruction and admitted Defendant’s financial statement into evidence after Plaintiff submitted proof that Defendant was aware of this dangerous condition before the accident and, nevertheless, directed Plaintiff to work in the area to maximize profits.

Plaintiff’s Experts: Wayne Kanack of Dallas, Texas testified Defendant violated the Mine, Safety and Health Administration regulations. Bob White, vocational specialist. Dr. Ralph Scott, economist. Pat Brown, life care planner, provided future medical cost projections.

Defendant’s Experts: Dr. Walt Manger, geologist, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Karen Miller, life care planner, Terry Owens, vocational specialist.

Comments: Defendant made no offer of settlement until closing arguments. After several hours of jury deliberation, parties reached an agreement to settle for $650,000.00 around the workers’ compensation carrier making Defendant responsible for the carrier’s lien, and entitling Plaintiff to continue drawing workers’ compensation benefits.

AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS

This office does not exclusively handle cases that have resulted in catastrophic injury or death, but also the more common types of personal injury actions. The following are summaries of two automobile accident cases which this office has recently successfully concluded:

Plaintiff, a 56 year old owner and operator of an excavation and trucking business, was rearended by a truck owned by Defendant causing $4,000.00 in property damage to Plaintiff’s vehicle. Plaintiff was able to drive his vehicle from the accident scene and first sought medical attention a few hours later complaining of neck and low back pain. Plaintiff experienced and was treated for preexisting problems with his low back as a result of significant degenerative disk disease. After one year of conservative treatment produced little improvement, Plaintiff under went a lumbar decompression for his low back injury which his treating neurosurgeon opined caused 10% permanent partial impairment. The treating neurosurgeon found no permanent impairment for his neck injury.

Plaintiff claimed, as the result of the accident, his business has suffered a significant loss of income. However, the company’s financial records indicated the company earned significantly higher profits after the accident than before. Plaintiff countered that these increased profits were the result of an upturn in the local economic and construction industry and would have been even higher if the accident had not occurred. Both Plaintiff and Defendant retained expert witnesses on the issue of lost business profits.

Case No.: CIV98-10188, Pulaski County Circuit Court
Settlement: $260,000.00 one week before trial

Completely uninsured Plaintiff was employed as a “bouncer” at a local night club. Plaintiff mistakenly reported to work on a night in which he was not scheduled to work. While waiting to obtain a ride home, an altercation occurred in the parking lot. Plaintiff and another “bouncer” were summoned to break up the altercation. Shortly after Plaintiff assisted the other bouncer in depositing the two unruly patrons into their vehicle, the vehicle accelerated quickly striking Plaintiff in the right knee. The vehicle fled the scene but Plaintiff was able to get the license plate number of the vehicle. As a result of the impact, Plaintiff suffered ligament damage to his right knee which required surgical repair. Plaintiff lost his worker’s compensation case. Incredulously, it was found that he was not acting for the benefit of his employer at the time of the injury!

Plaintiff hired two law firms to pursue his claim against the unknown driver. These firms represented Plaintiff for almost a three year period, only to decline to pursue the case on the eve of the expiration of the statute of limitations because no insurance coverage could be located. David S. Mitchell was hired only a few days before the expiration of the statute limitations. He immediately filed suit against the presumed owner of the vehicle (according to the license plate number) and the unknown John Doe who accompanied him. Upon conducting discovery, it was determined the owner of the vehicle was also uninsured and the John Doe was identified. Fortunately, the John Doe defendant, at least according to the owner of the vehicle, was in control of the vehicle when it left the accident scene. An amended complaint was filed against the newly identified John Doe and, after conducting discovery, it was determined that he was insured. After Plaintiff’s deposition was taken, the case settled for the policy limits.

Case No. CV-99-000690, Pulaski County Circuit Court