Kendra Therrell and Stacie Morales from our Jacksonville office, achieved a complete defense verdict in a high-exposure personal injury case arising from a heavy-impact, wrong-way collision in St. Cloud. Despite admitted liability and significant claimed injuries, the jury found that the defendant’s negligence did not cause any injury to the plaintiff.

The matter—recently transferred to the team with substantial complications—centered on a 46-year-old plaintiff (no prior complaints) alleging neck, back, and shoulder injuries, including a surgical shoulder repair and more than $160,000 in past medical expenses. Plaintiff sought more than $2.3 million in total damages.

Throughout pre-trial proceedings, Stacie navigated contentious and highly active motion practice, including plaintiff’s successful challenge to the defense biomechanical expert. Additional hurdles arose from limitations in the earlier handling of medical records, which culminated in the CME physician offering causation testimony favorable to plaintiff during a trial deposition.

At trial, Kendra delivered impactful cross-examinations of the plaintiff, the treating physiatrist, and plaintiff’s orthopedic surgeon. Stacie effectively challenged the testimony of the retained radiologist and extensive before and after witnesses. In a strategic shift, the defense elected to call no live witnesses, instead designating a small portion of the plaintiff’s deposition and introducing social media evidence contradicting his reported post-accident restrictions. The move proved pivotal during closing arguments.

After a little over two hours of deliberations, the jury returned a complete defense verdict, finding no causal connection between the incident and any of the claimed injuries.