The plaintiff who suffered spinal injuries in a multi-car wreck has been awarded $4.2 million by a Fulton County jury after an insurer refused to settle the case for $100,000 nearly a decade ago.
According to the court filings, the plaintiff, now 60, was sandwiched between two cars when the defendant hit the last vehicle in line at a stop on Old Malton Parkway in Alpharetta in March 2010. Plaintiff's Nissan Sentra was destroyed in the collision, and he complained of pain in his leg, back, and neck. He already had some preexisting spinal problems which worsened by the wreck. Defendant and another driver were taken to the hospital where the blood tests revealed that she had taken “multiple sleep and/or psychotropic drugs” including Ambien, diphenhydramine |LS|Tylenol PM|RS|, Xanax and Paxil, an antidepressant that belongs to a group of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
The plaintiff was diagnosed with a herniated disk in his neck a year-and-a-half later. Plaintiff’s attorney demanded the defendant's insurer, USAA, for her $100,000 policy limit, where the insurer offered to pay $14,500. The plaintiff declined the offer and filed a suit in Fulton County State Court; another offer by plaintiff's attorney of $1.75 million under Georgia’s Unliquidated Damages Interest Act was also declined.
On August 15, the Fulton County jury awarded $3 million in compensatory damages, $1.2 million in attorney fees, and $5,555 in litigation expenses for a total of $4,251,555.
