A Clay County Missouri jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in a motor vehicle accident.

A Clay County jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in a motor vehicle accident. However, the amount of the verdict was more in line with what the defendant, who admitted liability, requested.

“This was a case with admitted fault by the defendant for the accident and the only issue was damages,” One of the attorneys for the defendant Charles H. Cooper of Franke Schultz & Mullen said.

The plaintiff reported injuries from the crash to their back and spine.

Plaintiff’s counsel, Emily Polizzi of the Bradley Law Firm, said they went into the trial without any offers on the table and are happy with the more than $21,000 award.

“[There] was very low damage to the motor vehicle itself,” Polizzi said. “So it was definitely a factually challenging case for my client. It’s a very hard thing to overcome, to revise in terms of accidents with minimal damage, but we had articles from the (…) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (…) about low property damage accidents and how there’s little, no correlation between physical damage to the vehicle and determination of the injuries of the occupants of that vehicle. So I think that really helped us overcome that issue.”

“In closing, Plaintiff asked for $100,000. Defendant asked for $21,578.22, which the jury awarded,” Cooper said.

The Verdict

• The plaintiff also was awarded $16,578.22 in special damages.
• Amount of verdict, judgment or settlement: $21,578.12
• Type of action: Motor Vehicle Collision
• Allocation of Fault: Defendant admitted fault for the accident.
• Breakdown: $21,578.12, consisting of $16,578.12 to cover the cost to satisfy the obligation for the medical bills, plus $5,000 for pain and suffering.
• Venue: Clay County Circuit Court
• Case Number/Date: 23CY – CV06588/12/17/2024
• Judge: Shane Terril Alexander
• Defendants’ Experts: Charles H. Cooper
• Injuries: Back, spine
• Special Damages: $16,578.22