Trial Lawyer Nick Rowley recently wrote an article for The Advocate Magazine titled “How to think about, discuss, and present money damages in voir dire and opening statement”.  The article dives deep into Nick’s strategies into asking for specific damages and how to convince the judge that it’s not preconditioning.

This strategy has helped Nick win countless jury verdicts totaling over $1.5 billion over his career.

To read the full article, click below to download the PDF version.

Trial Lawyer Ben Novotny was named to the 2018 Massachusetts Lawyers of the Year by Lawyers Weekly. Ben, 39, has won several 7 & 8 figure verdicts on behalf of his clients. He won the award for his tough fight for justice in the case Larkin v. Johnston in which the jury awarded his clients a $40+ Million Verdict (with interest). In 2015, this result was the largest verdict in Massachusetts & the 20^th largest verdict in the U.S.

Larkin v. Johnston, was a Medical Malpractice case in which a woman suffered a venous varix, similar to a brain aneurysm, when giving birth.

Read more about the case and the award here.https://www.tl4j.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ben-award.pdf

POLK COUNTY, Iowa, April 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — A Polk County, Iowa jury awarded $12.25 million in a unanimous verdict after just 3 hours of deliberations to a man who underwent a debilitating and unnecessary prostate cancer surgery, which resulted in the shortening of his penis, complete loss of the ability to have an erection, and urinary incontinence.  The Iowa Clinic and pathologist mixed Mr. Huitt up with another patient who actually did have cancer.

In March 2008 a client of Trial Lawyers for Justice broke his left ankle when he backed his foot in the path of an automated industrial cart.  The client was assisting a coworker placing tie sheets between corrugated cardboard at the time of the incident.  The Plaintiff filed suit against the manufacturer of the industrial cart asserting a negligent design defect claim.

The cart was equipped with a collision avoidance system that was designed to stop the cart if an object was in its path. Our expert forensic engineer testified that the collision avoidance system was defective in that based on the configuration of the single laser used, the system as designed was unable to detect objects at the very edge of the cart or the area where the client backed his foot.  Our expert testified by deposition that a system employing multiple lasers, or that used a bumper braking system would have avoided the incident.  The defense expert engineer opined that our client was responsible for his injuries because he placed his foot over a yellow area marked with a “NO STEP” sign and within the transfer car path identified as a yellow “NOT A WALKWAY” safety zone sign.  The defense expert also noted that the system was designed and manufactured in compliance with all OSHA and ANSI standards.

The ankle healed poorly and talar avascular necrosis developed.  Ultimately, on February 2, 2013, nearly 5 years after the incident, the client’s left leg was amputated below the knee.  On February 21, 2015 the client died due to a pulmonary embolism.  The parties disputed whether the blood clot originated from the surgical site.  The client was a chronic smoker, had poorly controlled diabetes and a history of deep vein thrombosis that predated the initial injury.  There were no consortium or wrongful death claims so the case was limited to pre death pain and suffering.

To resolve the matter, Travelers Insurance agreed to pay our client $1,000,000.00 and to also satisfy the workers’ compensation lien, which was approximately $640,000.00.  Predating Trial Lawyers for Justice’ involvement in the case, and while the case was pending for over 6 years, Travelers made no offers to settle the case to referring counsel.

The client was represented by Trial Lawyers for Justice attorneys Nicholas Rowley, Dominic Pechota, and Matt Reilly as well as attorney Marc Harding.  Trial was scheduled to begin in on March 19, 2019.

In December 2015, a client of Trial Lawyers for Justice was removing corn from a grain storage building using a grain vacuum machine.  Grain was being vacuumed from the side of the structure and transferred to a grain trailer and truck.  For some unknown reason, the client ended up in the structure and was engulfed by corn.  Some of the stored grain had spoiled or had gone out-of-condition causing crusting.  

There were no eye witnesses to the client’s death.  The client was 56 years old, not married, and had no children.  Our grain bin expert testified that the client’s death would not have occurred if the employer had complied with general accepted and adopted grain management standards and pertinent federal and state Occupational Safety and Health Administration workplace safety and health regulations including lack of access to a body harness and lifeline, lack of lockout/tag out provisions, and the absence of a trained on-site observer. 

The defense grain bin expert opined that based upon the on-site photographs the corn was not out of condition.  The defense also argued that the client was comparatively negligent as other co-employees testified by deposition that our client had been verbally told on numerous prior occasions not to enter a grain storage building and that entering the structure was a known danger.