Latest Plaintiff Trial Verdict News

Jury Awards $373,922 in Virginia Car Accident Verdict After Henrico County Sideswipe Collision

A Henrico County jury awarded $373,922 to the plaintiff in Stuart v. Presley on January 21, 2026, after a sideswipe collision that the defense described as minor and that caused minimal visible property damage. The Virginia car accident verdict came after the insurance carrier, Safeco, offered just $20,000 to settle the case, making the jury's award nearly 19 times the pre-trial offer. The case was tried before Judge Rondelle D. Herman in Henrico County Circuit Court. Plaintiff attorneys Sharif Gray, Gray Broughton, and Zachary Grubaugh of Gray Broughton Injury Law in Richmond represented the injured party.How the Sideswipe Collision Led to Surgery The plaintiff was involved in a sideswipe collision in Henrico County that produced minimal property damage. Despite the low-impact appearance of the crash, the plaintiff sustained a torn rotator cuff that required surgical intervention. The defense admitted liability just hours before trial, shifting the entire dispute to damages. The central question for the jury became whether the collision actually caused the plaintiff's shoulder injury or whether the condition existed before the crash.The Defense Strategy: Pre-Existing Injury and Treatment Gap The defense built its case around two arguments. First, a defense orthopedic expert testified that the plaintiff's torn rotator cuff was pre-existing. The expert pointed to the fact that the plaintiff had undergone rotator cuff surgery on his other shoulder just over a year before the collision. Second, the defense highlighted a nine-month gap in treatment between the collision and when the plaintiff sought care for the injury at issue. The defense argued this gap undermined the claim that the crash caused the rotator cuff tear. These are common defense tactics in low-property-damage cases. Insurance carriers frequently rely on prior medical history and treatment gaps to minimize the value of a claim or deny causation altogether.Why the Jury Rejected a $20,000 Offer and Returned $373,922 Safeco's highest settlement offer before trial was $20,000. The case proceeded to a one-day jury trial, and the jury returned a verdict of $373,922 for the plaintiff. The gap between the carrier's offer and the jury's award is striking. It suggests that the jury found the plaintiff's testimony and evidence about the injury more credible than the defense's pre-existing condition argument. It also reflects what plaintiff attorneys across the country see regularly: carriers undervaluing claims involving low property damage, only to face significantly larger verdicts at trial.What This Virginia Car Accident Verdict Signals for Plaintiff Attorneys The Stuart v. Presley result is a useful data point for attorneys handling cases where the defense leans on minimal property damage to suppress settlement value. Several aspects of this case stand out for practitioners. The defense conceded liability on the eve of trial, a move that can sometimes work in the defense's favor by focusing the jury solely on damages. Here, that strategy did not pay off. The jury awarded nearly 19 times what Safeco had offered. The nine-month treatment gap and prior shoulder surgery on the opposite side gave the defense real ammunition, yet the jury still returned a six-figure verdict. This outcome suggests that when the surgical evidence supports causation, juries can see past treatment gaps and prior injury history. For plaintiff attorneys who handle disputed-causation cases, this verdict from Henrico County Circuit Court sends a clear message. Taking a case to trial can produce results that far exceed what the carrier puts on the table. Browse the latest verdict news on Major Verdict to track outcomes like this one. Verdicts like this one deserve to be seen. Major Verdict is the only platform where plaintiff attorneys can publicly display their trial results and settlements for free. Create your profile today and let your record speak for itself. If you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident, find a plaintiff lawyer on Major Verdict with a proven trial record in your state.

$6.4 Million Missouri Verdict for Firefighter Injured by Ambulance Company's Gurney

A Jackson County jury awarded $6.4 million to a Missouri firefighter and his wife after finding an ambulance company's gurney directly caused a series of devastating injuries including a brain condition that took three weeks to surface and became the central battleground of the trial. The verdict in Montgomery v. Medevac Medical Response, Inc. was returned January 14, 2026, in Jackson County Circuit Court at Independence, before Judge Kenneth Garrett III. The defendant never offered a single penny to settle.What Happened on January 11, 2017 Buddy Montgomery was a firefighter responding to a call for an unresponsive person in an Independence apartment parking lot. Defendant AMR, operating as Medevac Medical Response, Inc., responded to the same call with ambulance services and provided the gurney used to transport the patient. As Montgomery and a fellow firefighter lifted the patient onto the gurney, it shifted. Montgomery pulled up on the patient to prevent him from falling to the ground. That split-second reaction caused the injuries that would alter the course of his life. Montgomery suffered a SLAP tear to his right shoulder and a herniated disc at C6-C7, both of which required multiple surgeries. Three weeks after the incident, he developed hydrocephalus a serious neurological condition caused by a blockage from a congenital colloid cyst in his brain.The Fight Over Causation The hydrocephalus diagnosis became the defining issue in the case. The defense argued the timing was coincidental that a pre-existing congenital cyst, not the gurney incident, triggered the condition. The plaintiff's team countered that the physical trauma from the incident caused the blockage to manifest. Lead attorney Brett Burmeister of Burmeister Gilmore in Blue Springs credited the treating neurosurgeon with turning the tide on that issue. "Persuading jurors of the causal connection between the incident and our client's hydrocephalus brain injury, which did not manifest until 20 days later, presented the greatest challenge," Burmeister said. "The treating neurosurgeon really went to bat for our client, and I think that made a huge difference with the jury." The defendant also argued that Montgomery and his fellow firefighter bore responsibility for ensuring the gurney was secure before lifting the patient a position the jury ultimately rejected, though not entirely.The Verdict Breakdown The gross jury award was $8 million: $6 million to Buddy Montgomery and $2 million to his wife, Stacy Montgomery, for loss of consortium. The jury allocated 80 percent of fault to Medevac Medical Response and 20 percent to the plaintiff, reducing the net verdict to $6.4 million under Missouri's comparative fault rules. Special damages included: $478,000 in past medical expenses $2.4 million in lost wages and lost household services $1.7 million in future supervision and caregiving expenses The plaintiffs had demanded $5.5 million at mediation. The defendant made no offer. The jury returned a verdict that exceeded that demand by nearly $1 million on a net basis.A Case Built on Expert Testimony Both sides assembled substantial expert panels. The plaintiff's team called eight experts spanning EMS standards, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, economics, vocational rehabilitation, psychiatry, and mental health therapy. The defense countered with four experts, including two neurologists who supported the coincidence theory on the hydrocephalus, and an EMS expert disputing the plaintiff's account of the gurney's role. The depth of expert testimony on both sides reflects how hard Medevac fought this case and how thoroughly the jury sided with the plaintiff on the core liability and causation questions. The plaintiff's legal team included Brett Burmeister and Kristi Burmeister of Burmeister Gilmore in Blue Springs, and Eric Playter of Playter Trial Lawyers in Rayton. The defense was represented by Stephen Fields and Emily Lavine of Brinker & Doyen in St. Louis, and Daniel Huff and Michelle Salandy of Huff Powell Bailey in Atlanta.What This Verdict Signals for EMS and Commercial Liability Cases Cases involving emergency medical service providers present a particular challenge for plaintiff attorneys. Defendants in this space often argue that on-scene personnel share responsibility for equipment failures, and that the chaotic nature of emergency response makes causation harder to establish. This verdict demonstrates that juries are willing to hold commercial EMS operators accountable when their equipment contributes to a responder's injury even when the defense raises a plausible alternative explanation for the most serious diagnosis. For Missouri plaintiff attorneys handling cases involving EMS companies, ambulance operators, or commercial service providers, this outcome is a useful data point on what a well-built expert case can achieve at trial.Track Missouri Verdicts on Major Verdict Results like this one are exactly what plaintiff attorneys across the country use to benchmark cases, evaluate damages strategies, and understand what Missouri juries are willing to award. Major Verdict is a free membership platform built for plaintiff personal injury lawyers. Members can showcase their own trial results and notable settlements on a public profile giving prospective clients a transparent look at their actual courtroom record. If you handle personal injury cases in Missouri, explore Major Verdict membership or browse plaintiff attorneys already posting their results on the platform. You can also explore Missouri personal injury resources and the latest verdict news from across the country.

Panel Returns $6.05M Verdict in Illinois Commercial Trucking Crash Case

A Christian County, Illinois jury returned a $6.05 million verdict for plaintiff George Guinn IV after a 2018 collision with a commercial semitruck. Jurors allocated 75% fault to Farmdog Trucking and 25% to Guinn, reflecting comparative fault in the March 26, 2018 crash. The case centered on a collision between a Peterbilt semitruck driven by Jimmy Crisp for Farmdog Trucking and Guinn’s 1998 Ford Escort. The crash report indicated Guinn was transported by ambulance while Crisp declined treatment. Guinn alleged a traumatic brain injury along with other head and neck injuries. Before trial, the plaintiff demanded policy limits. Farmdog’s insurer, Northland Insurance, offered $60,000 before the suit and later $1 million the week before trial; both offers were rejected. Trial concluded June 16, with judgment entered July 18, 2025. Guinn was represented by Zane T. Cagle and Kyle Sherman; Farmdog Trucking was represented by John O. Langfelder and Joseph K. Guyette.

LA Jury Returns $3 Million to Man Over Broken Sidewalk in City's Latest Liability Payout

A jury returned $3,000,000 in a civil injury case. The trial date reported was August 13, 2025. LA panel grants $3 million to man over broken sidewalk in city’s latest liability payout - A panel has granted a wedding photographer $3 million after he was injured when he tripped over a damaged sidewalk in Woodland Hills in 2019. Last week, a panel made Payman Heravi $3 million richer. While Heravi started to cry as the panel’s decision was read, they didn’t appear to be tears of joy. Payman says his left arm isn’t fully functional - all because of a severely uneven L.A. city sidewalk. Right now, (the) pain is a lot, Heravi said. Right now, I can’t use my shoulder. In December 2019, Heravi says he was walking down Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills and as he checked a text on his phone, he tripped on a several-inch uplift in the sidewalk. Heravi’s attorneys successfully argued that city employees saw the sidewalk was damaged, but didn’t repair it. That should be fixed in a reasonable manner, Heravi’s personal inpanel attorney Max Lee said. If that happened in this case, Mr. Heravi would still be able to do what he loves and not be in constant pain every day. Three surgeries and years of physical therapy later, Heravi says he still cannot return to making a living as a wedding photographer. The panel granted Heravi a total of $3,028,026. As for the sidewalk, it still has not been fixed. In roughly the past five years, the city of Los Angeles has paid out more than $86 million because of lawsuits relating to broken and uneven sidewalks.