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Robert Horwitz and Chandler Black along with appellate counsel Diane Tutt and their paralegal Jennifer Peoples obtained a defense verdict in a hotly contested automobile accident claim with admitted liability and alleged C1-C2 injury, brain stem compression and cranial instability.  Plaintiff demanded $30,746,553.00 including $746,553.00 for future medical expenses. 

Plaintiff was a 57-year old female who was sideswiped in a parking lot when the defendant driver was backing from a parking spot. The accident caused $1,150 in property damage. Liability was admitted with causation and damages in dispute.  Plaintiff had a prior auto accident in 2010 and claimed the subject accident was an aggravation of a preexisting injury at C1-C2, resulting in cranio-cervical instability, brain stem compression causing full body seizures and neck pain resulting in plaintiff being almost completely bedridden and unable to participate in daily activities.  She also claimed that the accident caused her cerebral tonsils to drop, restricting blood flow to her brain stem.

Plaintiff had multiple experts including a C1-C2 Neurosurgeon, an interventional radiologist and pain management specialist who all testified to causation from the subject accident and the extent of plaintiff’s injuries. The defense through its own biomechanical engineer, neuro radiologists and other experts showed that plaintiff had no organic injury of any kind from the accident.  Further, the defense in its case was able to obtain testimony from plaintiff’s pre and post-accident treating neurologists who specialized in a psychologically based condition called a movement disorder, that all of the plaintiff’s claimed injuries and conditions were psychogenic in nature.  

In closing arguments, the Plaintiff sought future medicals. Including a spinal pain pump and other treatments totaling $746,000, as well as $30,000,000 for past and future pain and suffering.  The defense argued that plaintiff had no injury from the accident and should be awarded zero.  After 29 minutes, the jury returned a verdict for the defense finding no injuries causally related to the subject accident.