Stephenson And Dorton Secure Defense Jury Verdict In High Exposure Auto v Pedestrian Case

Jeremy Stephenson (Of Counsel-Charlotte, NC) and Kelsey Dorton (Associate-Charlotte, NC) defended an employee of our client's insured, who was called in early to work. En route before dawn on a rural road, he encountered a stopped tow truck in the opposing lane of traffic. Passing the truck, he struck the plaintiff and the plaintiff's car attached to the tow truck in his lane of travel. The plaintiff suffered numerous serious bodily injuries causing permanent disabilities and claimed significant economic losses. Jeremy and Kelsey used an accident reconstruction expert, and defeated the plaintiff's request for a special jury instruction on the "pull over law" under which the jury would have been instructed that our client had a duty to slow to a stop when approaching the truck. The trial lasted four days, after a 30-minute deliberation, the jury returned a verdict for the defense, consisting of yes as to liability, yes as to contribution and no regarding the doctrine of "last clear chance," which considers which party had the last opportunity to avoid the accident that caused the harm.