Congratulations to the MichieHamlett team of Bryan Slaughter, Kyle McNew, and Ashley Davis on their recent settlement of $18.5 Million for a 49-year-old woman who was paralyzed as a result of a rear-end collision. This settlement was the result of meticulous work by the Michie Hamlett team. We at Jury Impressions were honored to work with this incredible team with regard to the focus group that tested value and other issues unique to this case.
The following is the description of the case as reported in Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly:
The plaintiff is a 49-year-old woman. She is married and has four children. In late fall of 2024, she was driving to work in Albemarle County. She was stopped in traffic when she was hit from behind by a commercial motor vehicle.
The force of the impact broke the driver’s seat and threw the plaintiff into the backseat. After a prolonged extraction from her vehicle and transport to the hospital, she was diagnosed with a catastrophic injury to her spinal column and cord beginning at the T2-T3 level and continuing to T5.
Despite immediate surgical attempts to stabilize the column and decompress around the cord, the plaintiff was paralyzed from the chest down. She spent over three weeks in the hospital and was then transferred to inpatient rehabilitation, where she stayed another seven weeks.
Plaintiff’s counsel was retained while the plaintiff was still in the rehabilitation facility. Counsel immediately engaged with counsel for the commercial motor carrier.
Plaintiff’s counsel was able to negotiate an advance of funds in anticipation of eventual settlement or verdict to help clear one of the earliest obstacles of finding a suitable place to live following discharge, as the family’s apartment could not accommodate the equipment necessary for her comfort and care.
Plaintiff’s counsel also immediately began preparing the damages case in order to posture the case for early resolution or a quick trial date. This included engagement of a PM&R expert and life care planner to begin evaluating the plaintiff and interacting with her providers to develop a future care plan. Plaintiff’s counsel also worked with a video production company to produce video for use in focus groups and to accompany a future settlement demand. The video included interviews with experts and plaintiff’s family and friends, as well as footage of plaintiff’s daily life and rehabilitation efforts.
Plaintiff’s counsel provided medical records and bills to the defense on a rolling basis, and provided the demand video and accompanying expert reports to the defense several months before the scheduled mediation.
Prior to the mediation, plaintiff conducted a focus group to test value and to gauge the impact of certain facts unique to the case. For purposes of the focus group, plaintiff’s counsel commissioned alternative experts to produce a defense-oriented future care presentation.
Mediation occurred approximately ten months from the date of incident, and the settlement was finalized approximately one week after mediation. Plaintiff’s counsel, including in-house trust formation counsel Jim Cox, have worked with the plaintiff to engage a trust company and develop a trust that will protect and grow the settlement funds while providing for the plaintiff and her family.
