The Verdict is In!...

Okay, I meant for this to be a short summary, but it just kept going! Sorry if it bores you or makes no sense, but some people asked me to let them know how it went, so here you go!

As I stated in my Ten on Tuesday, I had to take Wednesday and Thursday off this week to go to a trial in regards to an accident I was in seven years ago in September. On Wednesday my mom and Jeremy came with me, and then on Thursday it was my mom and dad (Jeremy had to work.) There was a jury selection (8 people) and then opening arguments. After that the guy that I hit got on the stand and was on there for forever. They had to take a break in his testimony to put up their doctor, who had to end up coming the next day because the attorney took so long (he wasn’t happy.) The next day they got through both him and the doctor, and then his ex-wife and daughter (who was in the car as well.) I will admit; I had a hard time when his ex-wife and daughter got on the stand. For those who were around me back then, you know that that accident affected me a lot and it was a little hard to relive it. Anyway, I have to say, the other attorney was boring; she kept repeating herself and didn’t seem to have her questions all that prepared. He was not great on the stand, kept saying “I think so” and things like that, and he just didn’t come off very well. Their doctor was smart but boring and he had to keep referring to his notes to answer questions and did not seem to know the case very well. The ex-wife and daughter were not great but you don’t really expect them to be. After those four, we called our only witness who was also a doctor. He was great; he was interesting and knew the case really well and he made a lot of sense. My attorney was also much better. After that, they made closing arguments and sent the jury out.

I guess I should let you know what he claimed his damages were. First of all, he did NOTHING about this claim until one month before his statute of limitations ran, and he got no treatment for his claims for three years, then a little bit, then nothing for another two years or so. He claimed that starting from the night of the accident, he had numbness in his arms (they would fall asleep) when he went to bed and that it would wake him up several times a night. This, in turn, caused him to lose sleep and be irritable and “short-fused” and made him less fun and that he wasn’t able to live his life the way he used to. Also, it was "one of the causes of his divorce." When he woke up, he would wake his wife up and she ended up sleeping in a different room, and of course he was “short-fused” and hard to live with. There were no medical records to document the numbness happening until years after the accident. Well, finally, just a few months ago a doctor was able to diagnose this problem as a bracheo (sp?) plexus injury, which is an injury to a nerve. But there is hardly any support that a car accident would cause that type of injury, and our doctor pointed out that if that was a correct diagnosis, it would only explain one arm falling asleep, not both of them. And he was also diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome recently, which would better explain the problem.

Well, to make a long story short (I guess not that short!), the jury was sent to deliberation and a little over an hour later (a large part of that hour was going over jury instructions again), they sent a question into the judge (who, by the way, is President Faust’s son, pretty cool, huh?) asking if they had to give him damages for pain and suffering (pretty good sign!). Only about fifteen minutes after that they had their verdict (the plaintiff wasn’t there but the judge didn’t want to wait for him, and honestly, I am glad he wasn’t there) and gave him only $500 future meds and $0 pain and suffering. I have to admit, I do feel a little bad for him because he would have gotten much more if he had settled outside of court, but that I guess is just proof of his greediness.

The whole experience was long and a little boring (as I am sure this story was!), but it was also interesting. I am just glad that it is OVER now, almost seven years later. That stupid accident had been plaguing me and my parents long enough! Also, for those wondering, no, I did not get on the stand because me being at fault was not what the trial was about, just his injuries. So, my job was to sit at the defendant’s table and “not look bored.” I must have done a good job!