The case involved a disc herniation with no injections or surgery. The plaintiff team waived medical expenses at trial, focusing only on wage loss and noneconomic damages.
Trial Guides is thrilled to announce a $2.18 million verdict for Glenn B. Fair and his team at the Oakmont Law Group in Englewood, Colorado. The team used lessons from Nick Rowley’s Running with the Bulls and Trial by Human, as well as Don’t Eat the Bruises by Keith Mitnik. The plaintiff firm was able to “tell their client’s story,” as Running with the Bulls encourages. In so doing, the plaintiff team secured a verdict that not only helps their client tremendously, but underscores the importance of knowing your client.
This case was prepared in pre-litigation by Evynne Fair, and was the first case where she sent a full Running with the Bulls (RWTB) settlement opportunity letter. “When the case got to litigation, I continued working it up for trial with our new associate attorney, Emily Jamieson, who joined the Colorado Bar in 2022,” says Glenn. “She prepped her own directs and crosses for the witnesses she handled at trial. She literally examined half of our witnesses, including the defendant driver. She did all the motions work on this case and argued them when needed. I am so impressed with her work!”
The Accident
The plaintiff was a healthy, active man at the time of the accident. He had no prior history of any injury, sports-related or otherwise; his entire life had been about sports, weights, and running. Interviews with family and friends confirmed he never complained of an injury. He had two businesses that were operating at a profit, and he worked in them both, daily. He was married with five children, ages thirteen to 31. “It was easy to portray our plaintiff as a great dad, a family man, and a person devoted to his faith,” explains Glenn Fair, lead counsel and team leader at Oakmont Law Group.
On a Saturday morning, the plaintiff was driving the speed limit (25 MPH) on a city street when the defendant—who was working for an auto glass company at the time—pulled out of an alley without looking and crashed into his car. Both vehicles were repaired, and no airbags deployed.
At the time of the incident, the plaintiff reported knee pain, neck pain, dizziness, and being “shook up” to police. They called an ambulance, but the plaintiff refused transport to the ER. The following day, the plaintiff reported pain radiating throughout his torso. The next day he saw a chiropractor, who recommended he see an NP, massage therapist, and an attorney.
The first MRI revealed a disc bulge in his neck at three levels with no nerve impingement. The lumbar scan showed two bulges at L3, L4, and L5, which also did not impact the nerves. L5-S1 showed a 5-6mm disc herniation with annular tear and a “possible” very small extrusion.
The Long Healing Process
The plaintiff refused steroid injections due to a fear of needles and medical complications; he believed strongly in holistic healing. He began strength training with bands, trigger-point treatment, and massage work; slowly his symptoms started to improve, but his neck, shoulders, and lower back remained painful.
Twelve weeks of treatment went by with no real improvement. The plaintiff got a shoulder MRI as part of his pain management plan, as his shoulders still felt weak and his left shoulder had started popping; the MRI revealed tearing at the joint.
After ten months, he stopped treatment at about 80% recovery. His medical costs were at $37,000, and all on a lien. There was never any surgical recommendation as the plaintiff did not get any injections. At this point, the plaintiff had shuttered his massage business because he could not work without pain.
Initial Settlement and Mediation
“We used the ‘Settlement Opportunity’ concept outlined in Running with the Bulls for their full policy limits of one million dollars,” explains Glenn. “We sent them everything, including the MRI images, to his commercial policy carrier, Farmers Insurance. Farmers responded with an offer of $29,500, along with a request for his five years of prior tax returns to evaluate his business loss claim.
After some discussion, we got these documents and turned them over. Farmers then argued that the closure of [the plaintiff’s] business was not because of his injuries, but because of COVID; they say that he ‘would have lost his business anyway.’ Their final offer was $31,500.”
At mediation, the defense counsel bumped their offer up to $100k. Even though the plaintiff waived medicals two weeks before trial, the defense was stuck on the $37,000 figure. No other offer was made, even after outlining the plaintiff’s noneconomic damages, herniated disc impairment, and business losses.
The plaintiff team sent a final Settlement Opportunity Letter for $1.5 million, outlined why they needed to pay, and warned that they would ask for at least $2.5 million at trial.
Farmers did not respond.
The Plaintiff’s Situation Worsened
In the meantime, the plaintiff’s pain was not improving. He also began noticing aesthetic changes to his body; his upper body muscle mass began to decrease, and he started developing a “beer gut” for the first time in his life. Moreover, he was not sleeping well due to neck, shoulder, and back pain. He spiraled into depression from the pain.
Since he could no longer work as he used to, the plaintiff’s wage losses began racking up. A professional evaluation of the plaintiff’s business revealed $459,339 in wage loss if the plaintiff were to work until 60, the plaintiff’s chosen retirement age.
Two years after the crash, in a final blow, the plaintiff’s wife left him and took custody of his minor children. She stated that he was “no longer the same man [she] married.” This simple, sobering statement became the theme for the plaintiff's case.
Voir Dire
The plaintiff team used lessons imparted in Trial by Human, including “Brutal Honesty” and “Please talk to me.” They used a hypothetical about Bill Gates accidentally breaking a museum vase; the jury was introduced to the idea that it does not matter who broke it, but that the value has been lost. They also used lessons from Keith Mitnik’s Don’t Eat the Bruises to get the jurors’ opinions on judging the credibility of people with massive education and credentials.
Opening
The plaintiff team covered the plaintiff’s injuries in detail and put them on the easel during opening. “I told the jury what the IME doctor was going to say—four to six weeks for recovery, no impairment, no permanency,” explains Glenn. “I also made sure they understood how often [the IME doctor] testifies for the defense, and how much he already made in this case; this was another idea I got from Keith Mitnik. After my setup, two jurors actually scowled when he walked into the courtroom: exactly what Keith Mitnik said would happen!”
Closing
With a nod to Keith Mitnik, the trial team used the “Man with a Bag'' story and told the jury the case was worth $3.5 million. They preemptively got out ahead of the jury resistance along the lines of “my back hurts and no one gave me millions…” and also taught the jury how to fight in deliberations. The team made 24” by 36” verdict forms and showed how they should fill them out and why.
The team put per diem damages calculations on the screen and explained how they arrived at those numbers; more than half of the jurors wrote down the numbers given. They reviewed the pieces of evidence that supported their compensation requests by category.
The defense tried to argue that because no expert used the word “permanent,” that compensation needed to only cover 6 weeks of loss. In response to this, the plaintiff team used Mitnik’s “crick in the neck” analogy. “I asked them to bring back a verdict that says when you break or damage something, you have to pay the full value for it,” says Glenn. “My last sentence was: ‘Anything less than full justice is no justice.’”
Verdict
After about two and a half hours, the jury returned a verdict for $2,187,879. With interest accrued in the four years since the crash ($800,000), this will be about $3,000,000.