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The Great Trials Podcast offers a series of laid-back, casual conversations with leading trial lawyers, taking listeners "behind the scenes" of America’s greatest trials. Hosted by acclaimed trial lawyers Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey, each podcast episode focuses on one important trial and includes in-depth, insightful interviews with the attorneys who successfully argued the case in front of a judge and jury.
Episodes
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Randall H. Scarlett | Bianchi v. GTI | $49.1 million verdict
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Randy Scarlett of Scarlett Law Group (https://www.scarlettlawgroup.com/)
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Episode Details:
Acclaimed trial lawyer Randall H. Scarlett of Scarlett Law Group explains how he secured justice for a 21-year-old pre-med student who suffered a traumatic brain injury following a car crash involving two tractor-trailers on California's State Route 152 near Pacheco Pass. Drew Bianchi, a promising medical student, was a passenger in his friend's Toyota Avalon when the vehicle was struck by a truck that crossed the center line, causing a head-on collision with a Gordon Trucking 18-wheeler. The truck driver who caused the collision was operating his vehicle on only three hours of sleep; the second truck driver was talking on his cell phone at the time of impact. Drew sustained major injuries and was rendered a quadriplegic, requiring around-the-clock care. After six weeks of trial, a San Jose, California jury returned a $49,123,375.87 verdict, assigning 35% of the fault to Gordon Trucking, 60% to the other tractor-trailer driver and 5% to the State of California. This case secured the highest non-punitive verdict in California for a traumatic brain injury.
Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents
Guest Bio:
Randall H. Scarlett
Randall H. Scarlett, is principal of San Francisco based Scarlett Law Group. He concentrates his practice in the areas of catastrophic personal injury, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, wrongful death, and other serious wrongs.
Mr. Scarlett is a member of the Washington District of Columbia Bar, (DC Bar #479781) and the State Bar of California, (CA Bar #135554) and is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia, the California Supreme Court, all United States Federal District Courts in California, the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Mr. Scarlett also enjoys pro hac vice admissions in various state and federal courts throughout the United States and has tried cases to verdict in California, Nevada, North Carolina, Hawaii, and Alaska.
Mr. Scarlett is a Leaders Forum and President’s Club member of the American Association for Justice and is a past Chair and current Board Member of the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group of AAJ. Mr. Scarlett is a member in good standing of the Consumer Attorneys of California, the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, the Western Trial Lawyers Association, the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association (out of state member), the Bar Association of San Francisco, and the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Scarlett is also a “Top 100” with the National Trial Lawyers Association.
In addition to having been nominated for Trial Lawyer of the Year by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (2006) and (2010), Mr. Scarlett also served on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (2007).
Mr. Scarlett is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and is the current President and member of the Board of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys (ABPLA), through which he is a board-certified Diplomat. He is a past Vice-President and a current member of the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of California (BIAC), and for 20 years or more, was responsible for that organization’s medial/legal conference. Mr. Scarlett is also a past President and current member of the board of the Belli Society. Mr. Scarlet has been listed in Best Lawyers in America, SuperLawyers and Martindale Hubbell Preeminent for over 15 years
Mr. Scarlett lectures frequently throughout the United States before lawyers and non-lawyer groups alike. He has authored several articles and regularly presents papers.
Mr. Scarlett has achieved numerous record-setting verdicts throughout California, and the United States. In the 1980s, he achieved several seven-figure verdicts. In the 1990s, he achieved a $26.3 medical malpractice verdict, followed by a $1.2 Billion verdict in the Marco’s Human Rights Litigation. In the last ten years alone, he achieved eight traumatic brain injury verdicts ranging from $10.6 Million to $49.2 Million.
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Tuesday Jul 28, 2020
Daniel DeSantis and Jon Teller │Stewart v. Wake│$1.382 Million Verdict
Tuesday Jul 28, 2020
Tuesday Jul 28, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Daniel DeSantis and Jon Teller of Wilshire Law Firm, PLC (https://www.wilshirelawfirm.com/)
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Episode Details:
Wilshire Law Firm trial attorneys Daniel DeSantis and Jon Teller explain how they secured justice for Belinda Stewart, a traveling nurse who sustained severe spinal damage as a result of a car crash involving a distracted driver. A distracted driver crashed into Belinda's car with enough speed to thrust Belinda's vehicle up onto the sidewalk and into the car in front of her. Belinda sustained significant neck pain and lower back pain as a result of the crash and sought out chiropractic care, physical therapy and epidural pain management before undergoing surgery, resulting in metal rods and screws being placed in her spine. Despite the defense's attempts to blame Belinda's back pain on degeneration, rather than the crash, and to assert that Belinda's three back surgeries were unnecessary, a Los Angeles, California jury returned a $1,382,000 verdict, which was more than five times the value of the defense's pre-trial offer.
Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents
Guest Bios:
Daniel DeSantis, Esq.
Daniel DeSantis, Esq. is a senior trial attorney in Wilshire Law Firm's award-winning personal injury department. Through hundreds of cases, Mr. DeSantis has recovered more than $30,000,000 in settlements on behalf of his deserving clients, aggressively fighting against insurance companies, government entities, and their counsel to obtain the absolute best result for his clients.
Additionally, Mr. DeSantis' jury verdicts have collectively resulted in over $5,000,000 recovered for his injured clients. Most notably, he obtained a jury verdict on a $0 pre-trial offer that was 4x the Defendant's insurance policy. He has also hit several other jury verdicts where he has multiplied the Defendant's pre-trial offer to settle. In 2018, the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) recognized these jury wins by nominating him for the prestigious Rising Stars award.
Jon C. Teller, Esq.
Jon C. Teller, Esq. is a senior trial attorney at Wilshire Law Firm. Jon assists his clients with complex legal matters, focusing his practice on catastrophic injuries, including: spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, severe shoulder and knee injuries, and other personal injury cases. His strategic, client-first approach centers on out-preparing, out-thinking, and out-working his opponents.
In less than a decade, Jon has represented hundreds of clients and recovered tens of millions of dollars on their behalves. His work has led to world-changing results, including a landmark $28,715,000 school liability settlement in 2019. Following the liability phase of trial that found the defendant 100% negligent, the case resolved for over $28,000,000.
In 2018, Jon was honored by Top Verdict for securing the 3rd, 4th, and 5th highest arbitration awards in the state of California during 2018. He has additionally been honored by Top Verdict for securing 2016's 20th largest personal injury trial verdict in California, a $3,562,000 decision in a disputed liability vehicle collision.
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Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Alwyn Fredericks of Cash, Krugler, Fredericks. (https://ckandf.com/)
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Episode Details:
Alwyn Fredericks, a partner at Cash Krugler Fredericks in Atlanta, shares how he secured justice for 18-year-old college student Jewel Wicker, who sustained permanent brain damage following a severe car crash. Jewel was on her way to church when her Honda Accord was hit by a 26-foot Freightliner that ran a red light. The impact of the tractor-trailer, owned by First Class Produce, caused Jewel to hit her head, rendering her temporarily unconscious. Suffering damage to her frontal and temporal lobes, Jewel was diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury, which years after the crash still causes her to have headaches, ringing in her ears, light sensitivity, memory problems, anxiety and depression. Despite the defense's attempts to persuade the jury that Jewel was lying about her injuries or embellishing the extent of her pain, a DeKalb County jury returned a verdict of $3,500,000.
Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents
Guest Bio:
Alwyn Fredericks
Alwyn Fredericks graduated from Mercer University Law School in 1998. His practice areas include auto and trucking accidents, medical malpractice, fire and explosion cases, and premises liability actions. Mr. Fredericks has sub-specialty in litigating traumatic brain injury cases and has successfully tried several brain injury cases obtaining substantial verdicts for his clients. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and a former member of the Editorial Board of Verdict, a magazine of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. Additional memberships include the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, American Association for Justice, American Bar Association and the Gate City Bar Association. Mr. Fredericks is a frequent presenter at seminars both locally and nationally regarding effective litigation and trial techniques. He is consistently recognized as a top litigator in Georgia and named one of Georgia’s Superlawyers.
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Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview John Simon and Timothy Cronin of Simon Law Firm, P.C. (https://simonlawpc.com/)
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Episode Details:
Simon Law Firm, P.C. trial attorneys John Simon and Timothy Cronin share how they secured justice for Brian Koon, who became addicted to opioids after being prescribed up to 13 times the recommended amount of Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Vicodin for undiagnosed lower back pain between 2008 and 2012. Brian's doctor violated the standard of care by overprescribing opioids, failing to recommend physical therapy or alternative methods of treatment and disregarding Brian's symptoms of addiction by fulfilling his requests for early refills without an exam. In 2012, Brian checked himself into a drug rehabilitation program and endured a painful withdrawal process. At the time of trial, he suffered from opioid withdrawal, opioid use disorder and major depressive disorder, which significantly impacted his relationship with his wife, Michelle, and their young daughter. A St. Louis, Missouri jury returned a verdict of $1.4 million in compensatory damages for Brian, $1.2 million in damages for Michelle and $15 million in punitive damages against the physician and St. Louis University Hospital.
Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents
Guest Bios:
John G. Simon
John G. Simon’s work as Managing Partner at the firm has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars for past clients. Well-respected in his field, John’s career includes several published works, frequent community involvement, and the role of adjunct professor at Saint Louis University School of Law.
For 30 years, John Simon has devoted himself to fighting for the victims of negligence in St. Louis and across the nation. Because of his unparalleled skill and belief in the power of the law, John has secured over 150 verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million or more for his clients.
John’s practice is among the most accomplished in the nation:
- He has secured over 150 verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million each.
- He has obtained more than 15 verdicts/settlements over $10 million.
- He has secured more than 25 verdicts/settlements over $5 million.
John’s conviction and passion for the law form the cornerstone of our practice. His belief in the power of hard work, persistence, and dedication allows him and his fellow attorneys to achieve incredible results. Above all, he knows that a group of committed individuals working together can accomplish great things—that’s the heart of his firm.
Timothy M. Cronin
Tim Cronin is a skilled and experienced personal injury trial attorney, including product liability, medical malpractice, premises liability, and trucking litigation, serving clients nationwide from our St. Louis office. He has recovered over 100 million dollars for injury victims, received numerous legal accolades, and offers compassionate counsel to his clients.
Timothy M. Cronin is a skilled trial attorney that focuses his practice on personal injury, product liability, medical malpractice, premises liability and trucking litigation involving catastrophic injuries or death.
Tim devotes himself to uncovering wrongdoing and seeking justice for his clients. His goal in every case is to help repair the lives of his clients that have been devastated by the reckless conduct of others, to do everything possible to ensure it never happens again to anyone else, and to make the litigation process as easy and stress-free for his clients as possible. He has tried many cases and prepared countless others that settled on the courthouse steps. Tim has obtained verdicts exceeding ten million dollars on three separate occasions in the last three years alone. He has also obtained settlements or verdicts exceeding a million dollars for his clients on twenty-eight separate occasions, recovering in excess of four million dollars or more on over half of those cases.
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Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Geoffrey Fieger | Amedure v. Warner Bros. | $25 million verdict
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Geoffrey Fieger of Fieger Law (https://www.fiegerlaw.com/)
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Episode Details:
Geoffrey Fieger, one of America's top trial lawyers, explains how he vigorously represented the family of Scott Amedure, who was fatally shot by Jonathan Schmitz after revealing his "secret crush" on Schmitz during a taping of The Jenny Jones Show in 1995. Schmitz, a heterosexual man who was deeply embarrassed by the confession, was convicted of second-degree murder and served 22 years in prison. In a civil trial that attracted national attention, Geoffrey Fieger held the show and its partners, including Warner Brothers and Telepictures, responsible for the show’s ambush tactics and negligent actions. An Oakland County, Michigan jury returned a verdict of $25 million for Amedure’s wrongful death, which was later overturned on appeal.
Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents
Guest Bios:
Geoffrey N. Fieger
Practicing for nearly 40 years, Geoffrey Fieger is a veteran of the legal battlefield. His command of the law, both as a trial litigator and as a scholar, has made him one of the most sought-after attorneys in the nation. Though he has always practiced from his firm’s home in Southfield, Michigan, he is known all over the world for his charismatic trial presence and his refusal to back down from the battles that matter. In fact, the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University named The Geoffrey Fieger Trial Practice Institute in his honor.
Nationally Recognized Legal Counsel
Geoffrey’s legal skill is uniquely well-known, even for a lawyer as renowned as him—he has been repeatedly featured on MSNBC, CNN, Fox, and various other networks to provide legal insight and commentary throughout his career. He has had his own program on CBS radio titled “Fieger Time,” and was featured on Fox’s live court program “Power of Attorney.” Geoffrey has also frequently been in the news as a subject, as he is often called upon to represent high-profile cases on behalf of those facing impossible odds.
In one of his notable cases, Attorney Fieger was able to secure acquittals for every one of Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s assisted-suicide trials in which he represented the doctor.
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Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Katurah Topps, Gino Brogdon and Derrick A. Pope | Black Lives Matter Episode
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Katurah Topps (https://www.naacpldf.org/), Gino Brogdon (http://ginobrogdon.com/) and Derrick Pope (https://onthearc.net/)
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Episode Details:
NAACP Legal Defense Fund Policy Counsel Katurah Topps, mediator and former Atlanta Judge Gino Brogdon, and Arc of Justice Institute founder Derrick Pope join Steve and Yvonne to discuss systemic racism in America's civil and criminal justice system. This enlightening panel discussion covers the historical context of systemic racism, the current Black Lives Matter movement, and the work we all must do to build a better future.
Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents
Guest Bios:
Katurah Topps
Katurah Topps serves as Policy Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF). Prior to joining LDF, Katurah was a Litigation Associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (Simpson Thacher). While at Simpson Thacher, she litigated a variety of complex commercial and civil rights cases. Additionally, Katurah co-founded Simpson Thacher’s Civil Rights and Liberties Initiative, assisting in bringing meaningful civil rights leaders, knowledge, and work to the firm.
Before joining Simpson Thacher Katurah clerked for the Honorable Gerald Bruce Lee (retired) at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She also worked with Just the Beginning- A Pipeline Organization and its efforts to diversify the legal profession, by selecting, training, and elevating qualified diverse law students to interview with federal judges across the country, for judicial internships and clerkships.
Katurah earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. While at Georgetown Law, Katurah interned with LDF, served as an Editor for the Georgetown Law Journal, and collaborated with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project to represent those wrongfully convicted. Katurah also participated in Georgetown Law’s renowned Appellate Litigation clinic.
Katurah, a St. Louis native, proudly received her B.A. in French and Philosophy from Saint Louis University.
Hon. Gino Brogdon, Sr.
Hon. Gino Brogdon, Sr. presided over complex civil and felony cases for almost ten years as a trial judge in the Superior and State Courts of Fulton County in Atlanta, Georgia. Following his 2005 retirement from the bench, Gino has tried high visibility civil cases for plaintiffs and defendants.
He has also become a highly sought after mediator and arbitrator, specializing in Catastrophic Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, Complex Business, Construction, Discrimination, and Medico-legal issues. Gino has served as an adjunct professor of law at Emory University School of Law and at John Marshall School of Law and served as a faculty member of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.
Derrick Alexander Pope
Derrick Alexander Pope is President and founding Director of The Arc of Justice Institute. In this role, he has responsibility for all aspects of its standing initiatives and programs beginning with developing and managing the exhibit and its accompanying educational programs. He is also the host of its podcast, Hidden Legal Figures.
Before The Arc, Mr. Pope enjoyed a distinguished career in the public, private, and academic sectors. He has provided counsel to the legislative and executive branches of government at the federal, state, and county level, having most recently served as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. He is a former Assistant Legislative Counsel to the Georgia General Assembly and former Legislative Counsel to the Medical Association of Georgia. In 2015 and 2016, Mr. Pope was a member of the White House Data Driven Justice Initiative and the My Brother's Keeper Taskforce. In private practice, he has helped protect the inheritance rights of more than 500 families throughout Georgia. Mr. Pope is a former adjunct professor of law at the Georgia State University College of Law where he taught Probate Practice and Procedure.
Mr. Pope has several published works to his credit. He is the author of By the Content of Our Character: A Declaration of Independence for Colored Folks, Negroes, Black People, and African Americans and Thy Will Be Done: An African American Guide to Estate Planning and the Howard Law Journal article A Constitutional Window to Interpretive Reason: Or in Other Words...The Ninth Amendment. In 2012 teaming with this daughter he released a spoken word CD - The Race Track.
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Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Brian McKeen│Tran v. William Beaumont Hospital│$130.5 million verdict
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Brian McKeen of McKeen and Associates, LP (https://www.mckeenassociates.com/)
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Case Details:
Detroit medical malpractice attorney Brian McKeen explains how he secured justice for a two-month-old boy who suffered brain damage resulting in cerebral palsy after William Beaumont Hospital technicians failed to act urgently. The baby turned blue after receiving an IV for an outpatient renal scan and was without oxygen for 12 minutes because nuclear medicine technicians neglected to immediately issue a "code blue" or to begin administering chest compressions. Despite the defense's attempts to convince the jury that the incident occurred due to pre-existing conditions, an Oakland County, Michigan jury returned a landmark $130.5 million verdict.
Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents
Guest Bio:
Brian McKeen
Brian McKeen began practicing law in 1982. During his career, he has become a powerful advocate for his clients and one of the foremost medical malpractice attorneys in Michigan. He has tried cases throughout the United States. He currently sits on the executive boards of the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ) and the American Association for Justice (AAJ). Mr. McKeen formerly served as chair of the AAJ Professional Negligence Section, Medical Negligence Exchange Group, and Birth Trauma Litigation Group (BTLG).
Since 2001, McKeen & Associates has generated the year's top verdict in Michigan four times, including securing the state's largest medical malpractice verdict on record in 2001, when a jury rendered a verdict award of $55 million in the case of Hall v Henry Ford Health System. McKeen & Associates also topped all Michigan verdict awards in 2002, with an award of $22.5 million in the case of Blazo v McLaren Regional Medical Center, et al; in 2006 with an award of $16 million in the case of Lowe v Henry Ford Health System; and in 2007, with an award of $35 million in the case of Oppenheim v Aeneas C. Guiney. Mr. McKeen was recently inducted to The Inner Circle of Advocates and named Top Attorneys in Michigan as published by The New York Times in September 2012.
Professional Associations and Memberships:
Inner Circle of Advocates - The Inner Circle of Advocates is an invitation-only group, limited to 100 lawyers of excellent character and integrity, representing people throughout the United States. To qualify, members must have tried at least 50 personal injury jury trials and at least three verdicts in excess of one million dollars or one verdict in excess of ten million dollars.
International Society of Primerus - Primerus is an international network of top-rated, independent, law firms that have earned the right to display the Primerus seal of quality. Candidates for membership must have the maximum AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the peer review rating source that lawyers use to find other lawyers. Further, a law firm must submit to a rigorous evaluation which includes candid assessments from judges, fellow attorneys, current and former clients, bar associations, and malpractice insurance carriers. Firms must also attest to their commitment to the exacting standards of the Six Pillars of Primerus Quality: Integrity, Excellent Work Product, Reasonable Fees, Continuing Legal Education, Civility, and Community Service. And it doesn't end there. Primerus firms are audited annually to ensure that they continue to be the "best of the best," year after year.
American Association for Justice (AAJ)- Chair of the Professional Negligence Section 2006 - 2008; Co-chair of the Birth Trauma Litigation Group (BTLG); Co-chair of the AAJ's Medical Negligence Exchange Group 2005 - 2007 (MNIEG); Board of Governors; Leaders Forum; Sustaining Member; National Finance Counsel; Litigation Group Coordination Committee; Executive Board.
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Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Kyle Farrar & Wesley Ball│Brown v. Silvi, et al.│$11.7 million verdict
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Kyle Farrar and Wesley Ball of Farrar and Ball, LLP (http://fbtrial.com/)
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Case Details:
Farrar & Ball trial attorneys Kyle Farrar and Wesley Ball share how they secured justice for Shanika Brown and her infant daughter, who underwent arm and leg amputations, respectively, after being ejected from a car that hit a blown truck tire from a concrete mixer owned by Silvi Concrete on I-295 in New Jersey. The failed Bridgestone L315 tire, which was poorly retreaded by McCarthy Tire and negligently maintained by Silvi Concrete, was left in the roadway and caused the car Brown and her daughter were riding in to swerve and crash. Bridgestone, the original manufacturer of the tire, settled pre-trial. McCarthy Tire settled early in the trial and Silvi Concrete settled with the infant daughter before the case was presented to the jury. A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania jury ultimately assigned 85 percent of the blame to Silvi Concrete and returned a verdict of $10.6 million to Shanika Brown and $65,000 to Shanika's mother, who was driving the vehicle. Combined with delay damages, the verdict totaled $11.7 million.
Click Here to Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents
Guest Bios:
Kyle Farrar
Kyle Farrar is a veteran litigator with an active trial caseload in state and federal courts across the country. He has secured record jury verdicts and settlements on behalf of individuals injured by dangerous products and reckless and negligent parties. In addition, he has taken leading roles in high-profile multidistrict litigation (MDL) in cases involving dangerous and defective medical products.
Kyle began his career at one of the nation’s largest law firms, representing Fortune 500 companies in multimillion-dollar lawsuits. He founded his firm to focus on representing individuals who have suffered catastrophic injuries caused by tire blowouts, tread separation and tire failure linked to defective tires and automotive products.
Kyle is a national thought leader regarding tire and vehicle safety, and his work has helped spur manufacturers to improve safety and recall defective products. In this capacity, Kyle routinely assists peers and helps educate lawyers at product liability litigation conferences across the nation. He is often asked to assist as trial counsel in cases and trials, having appeared in Courts in over twenty different states and trying cases to a successful outcome in ten different states.
Wesley Ball
In 2005 – three years after graduating from Baylor Law School – Wesley Todd Ball co-founded Farrar & Ball, LLP, and built it brick by brick to what it has become today. In 2013, the firm joined forces with Kaster & Lynch, LLP to create Kaster Lynch Farrar & Ball, LLP, one of the top product liability law firms in the nation.
Mr. Ball’s work is concentrated on automotive defect cases, including tire failures, rollover incidents, airbag failures, seat failures, fuel-fed fire cases, and related design and manufacturing defects. In addition, he has extensive experience handling major multiparty products liability litigation against virtually every major domestic and international vehicle manufacturer, tire company, and automotive component manufacturer in both state and federal court. As such, Mr. Ball has tried cases to successful outcomes in eight different states, including Texas, Kentucky, Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Minnesota, California, and New Mexico.
Mr. Ball has earned some of the legal profession’s highest honors, including selection by peer attorneys to Texas Super Lawyers every year since 2014. From 2009 to 2014, he was one of a very small number of Texas lawyers to be recognized by Texas Super Lawyers and its companion Rising Stars publication at the same time. The National Trial Lawyers organization has named him to its 40 under 40 and, most recently, among is National Top 100 Trial Lawyers. In 2017, Mr. Ball was elected to and currently serves on the Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG) executive board, which focuses on obtaining successful outcomes in the product liability arena against mainly Fortune 100 companies.
Mr. Ball is a frequent media commentator on matters of product liability and other legal issues and has been featured in media outlets including the Houston Chronicle, CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg, CBS, ABC, and others.
Over a career spanning nearly 20 years, Mr. Ball has taken dozens of cases to trial and earned multiple jury verdicts exceeding eight-figures. Clients represented by Mr. Ball have collectively recovered more than $150 million in awards and settlements.
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Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Derrick Alexander Pope (https://onthearc.net/).
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Case Details:
Hidden Legal Figures podcast host Derrick Alexander Pope returns to the Great Trials Podcast to discuss a landmark case, which brought into question both the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the governing of interstate commerce in a post-Civil Rights world. Moreton Rolleston, owner of the Heart of Atlanta Motel located near I-75 and I-85, refused to rent available rooms to African-Americans, claiming that Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should not outrank the limits on the power afforded to Congress to regulate interstate commerce in the Commerce Clause. Moreton went so far as to argue that being forced to serve people of all races would violate his 13th Amendment rights and would place him in involuntary servitude to the government's wishes without compensation. The U.S. District Court for the North District of Georgia upheld the protections offered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and issued a permanent injunction, forcing Moreton to cease his discriminatory actions.
Guest Bio:
Derrick Alexander Pope
Derrick Alexander Pope is President and founding Director of The Arc of Justice Institute. In this role, he has responsibility for all aspects of its standing initiatives and programs beginning with developing and managing the exhibit and its accompanying educational programs. He is also host of its podcast, Hidden Legal Figures.
Before The Arc, Mr. Pope enjoyed a distinguished career in the public, private, and academic sectors. He has provided counsel to the legislative and executive branches of government at the federal, state, and county level, having most recently served as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. He is a former Assistant Legislative Counsel to the Georgia General Assembly and former Legislative Counsel to the Medical Association of Georgia. In 2015 and 2016, Mr. Pope was a member of the White House Data Driven Justice Initiative and the My Brother's Keeper Taskforce. In private practice, he has helped protect the inheritance rights of more than 500 families throughout Georgia. Mr. Pope is a former adjunct professor of law at the Georgia State University College of Law where he taught Probate Practice and Procedure.
Mr. Pope has several published works to his credit. He is the author of By the Content of Our Character: A Declaration of Independence for Colored Folks, Negroes, Black People, and African Americans and Thy Will Be Done: An African American Guide to Estate Planning and the Howard Law Journal article A Constitutional Window to Interpretive Reason: Or in Other Words...The Ninth Amendment. In 2012 teaming wih this daughter he released a spoken word CD - The Race Track.
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Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Lee Hunt of The Hunt Law Firm (https://huntlaw.com/).
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Case Details:
Top 25 New Mexico Super Lawyers honoree Lee Hunt discusses how he secured justice for Eric and Luke Armstrong, two brothers who were hit by bullet fragments fired from neighboring hunters on Express Ranches, LLC’s Atmore Ranch. The hunters were mistakenly told by their guide that their targets were between 240 and 250 yards away, causing them to aim high at the elk, which was actually only 160 yards away. While walking on the main road between Atmore Ranch and neighboring Ute Creek Ranch, Luke was hit in the mouth with a bullet fragment, which left him with permanent facial nerve damage and a numb limp. Eric had a bullet fragment lodged in his abdomen. A New Mexico jury found Express Ranches, LLC negligent for failing to adhere to safe hunting practices and awarded $5,256,000 in damages to the Armstrong brothers.
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Guest Bio:
Lee Hunt
You want to know more about your lawyer than whether he is capable of handling your case. By the end of the case, you and your lawyer better trust each other, know each and honestly care about each other. My belief is that to help a person in a legal crisis, I must know you as a person – not just another case. That means you should know more about me than where I went to school.
I am a husband. My wife Kristi is a native New Mexican who grew up on a cattle ranch in Roy, New Mexico. Her family settled the ranch back in the early 1940s and have raised cattle and kids there ever since.
I am a father. I have three wonderfully full of life children.
I am also a Christian. My faith and my belief in redemption is what drives me to do this work. I don’t think that you have to be a trial attorney to make the world better and to live in the likeness of Jesus, but it is what makes sense to me. If I can help people in crisis and be a calm witness in the midst of the storm, then maybe God can use that to His Glory.
I am also an athlete. I love to get away from everything with a hard run in early morning hours or a solitary bike ride.
I have raced the Hawaii Ironman twice and ran 100 miles at the Leadville Trail 100. I think balance in life is difficult to find, but even harder to get back aligned when out of whack. Trust me when I say that I work as hard as anyone I know, but I will always find time for my family and for myself. In the end that time away makes me a better lawyer.
As a lawyer, I have always wanted to try difficult cases to juries. To be respected by the other side, they must know that we are willing to fight all the way to the end and get results in Court. Our track record at trial speaks to who we are and how far we are willing to go to make things right.
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