Altman, Mayfield, and Luckey Secure Complete Defense Verdict
The Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee litigation team comprised of Members Jacqueline Altman and Jordan Mayfield, and Associate Allison Luckey secured a complete defense verdict in a trial held in Travis County. The trial was based on a motor vehicle accident that occurred in 2020 in Pflugerville, Texas, a city outside of Austin, Texas.
The personal injury case was presented in front of the Honorable Judge Laurie Eiserloh and had a sitting jury of 13. Plaintiff was represented by the Thomas J. Henry law firm, and according to the petition was seeking over $1 million in damages, claiming both the company and driver were negligent. Counsel for the Plaintiff originally demanded $25 million to settle the matter.
Plaintiff’s counsel used the common tactic of appealing to the sympathy of the jury by focusing on the personal story of Plaintiff, instead of focusing on the facts of the accident. Altman’s opening statement drew from the Court’s instructions, “the jury’s job is to evaluate evidence – not the attorneys’ arguments – and credible evidence is consistent evidence.”
Despite Plaintiff’s best efforts to craft a story of a truck driver who turned from the wrong lane of traffic when making a right-hand turn, Plaintiff could not overcome the consistent and credible facts that the Defendant Driver made a wide right-hand turn that all trucks must do to avoid hitting the curb and that Plaintiff placed her car beside him where she never should have been. Based on the evidence, the jury found that the Defendant Driver was not negligent. The jury went even further and determined that the evidence showed that it was Plaintiff’s own negligence that caused the accident in question.
