Plaintiff Jerome Jones proceeded to trial on a motor-vehicle accident where fault for the accident was accepted by the Defendant. The case was tried solely on causation and damages. Trial commenced on February 10, 2026, and the jury was selected and sworn that day. During the trial, the Plaintiff presented evidence of his three surgeries (two level disc replacement to his neck, one level disc replacement to his low back and left shoulder arthroscopic debridement and subacromial decompression to repair a torn superior labrum and partial-thickness rotator cuff tear) which he claimed was caused by the subject accident. The defense cross-examined the Plaintiff and his surgeons to confirm the Plaintiff never told them about his four prior motor vehicle accidents, his extensive medical history of similar complaints of injury and pain from those prior accidents, nor the treatment he received to the same areas of his body, including diagnostic testing including MRIs. The Plaintiff requested an award of over $2.8 million dollars in damages which included $550,745.28 in past medical expenses. After a six day jury trial, a verdict was returned of only $21,598.00 in past medical expenses and no finding of any permanent injury. This verdict beat several Proposals for Settlement filed by the Defendant, including one dating back to early 2024 that effectively resulted in a defense verdict for the Client. Paul G. Totten and Brian T. Barriffe were the trial lawyers from the HM&B team who secured this result.
