MinnLawyer Blog

I wrote an article earlier this month about the dearth of large personal injury verdicts this year. I did, however, point to two of the larger awards that did come down — both from juries in Greater Minnesota. We believe the largest, which came out of Itasca County, was a $16.4 million dollar award for the families of two men killed in a plane crash ($9 million to the pilot and $7.4 million to the passenger). The other one I mentioned was a $1.25 million verdict in St. Louis County for a family whose 2-year-old son died allegedly as a result of a doctor’s failure to diagnose the child’s gangrenous appendix.

I learned this week of another impressive verdict that came out of St. Louis County in February — a $3 million underinsured motorist award for a woman who collided with a street sweeper. She suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in addition to knee and arm injuries. The defendant’s top offer was $175,000.

According to Duluth attorney Stephanie Ball (at right) who represented the plaintiff, it was a difficult case, in part due to the challenge of overcoming the preconceived notion that a driver rear-ending a vehicle should be held responsible. With the help of the state trooper who investigated the accident and an accident reconstructionist, the plaintiff was able to overcome this hurdle by educating the jury on:

• the unanticipated nature of the danger presented by the street sweeping vehicle given its speed, which was substantially lower than the designated minimum speed limit;
• the plaintiff’s line of sight restriction; and
• the additional time required by an alert driver to perceive, react and take evasive action given the presence of the street sweeper.

The case was also challenging because of the need to educate the jury on the consequences of a mild traumatic brain injury. According to Ball, while most individuals who sustain such an injury are fortunate to recover and have a good prognosis, there are a number of individuals who do not recover and have significant, severe and permanent consequences as a result. The plaintiff’s treating neuropsychologist helped the jury understand the severity and chronicity of the plaintiff’s injury and the fact that it will be a condition that she struggles with for the rest of her life.

Kudos to Ball. It sounds like a challenging case with a good result that is certainly worthy of mention. The verdict report will appear in Monday’s issue of Minnesota Lawyer.