Our Successes
$800,000 for a woman injured in a car accident in Madison, GA.
$400,000 verdict for a man who injured his shoulder at a College Park Kroger
$800,000 for a woman injured in a car accident in Madison, GA.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The defense says it probably will not appeal a Walton County jury’s $800, 000 awarded to a woman more than six years after she was involved in what initially seemed a relatively minor car wreck in Madison.
Sheila Greene was a 42-year-old employee of the U.S. Forest Services traveling from Monticello to Gainesville on July 8, 2003, when a car driven by Steve Spivey pulled in front of her.
“She hit him doing about 35[mph],” said Eric J. Hertz, one of Greene’s attorneys. “She went to the hospital complaining about her ankle hurting. Then a few weeks later, she went back complaining about lower back pain.”
Over the course of the next three years, Greene underwent chiropractic treatment, epidural injections and, in 2007, surgery to fuse degenerative discs in her back, at which point she had to stop working, he said. She has since had another surgery to remove some of that hardware.
Scott G. MONGE of MONGE & Associates, who filed suit on behalf of Greene and her husband, Phillip Greene, in 2005, said the costs of the accident and subsequent treatments continued to rise as the years passed.
“When the case first started off, the initial offer [from Spivey’s insurer] was approximately $13,000”, said MONGE. “As the case went on, the client began to have to have additions surgeries… [and] she’s been recommended for another, additional surgery.”
Eventually, he said, the defense offered $100,000 to settle, but “by the time it was offered, our clients’ bills were well in excess of $100,000.”
Spivey admitted liability for causing the wreck, said defense attorney William S. Cowsert of Athens’ Cowsert & Avery, so the only issue for the jury was the amount of damages.
At trial, the Greenes were represented by Hertz and his associate, W. Todd Johnson; Scott Monge; and Eric Hertz’s brother Joshua J. Hertz, who practices in Miami and came up at his brother’s behest to assist in jury selection.
Following a three-day trial before Alcovy Circuit Superior Court Judge Samuel D. Ozburn, a Walton County jury took an hour and a half to award Sheila Greene $800,000; on a separate loss of consortium court, the jury awarded Phillip Green nothing.
“It is very nice to see justice obtained in a rural county the same as any other county,” said MONGE, describing the jury as “as a sophisticated, well-educated panel as I’ve seen anywhere.”
$400,000 verdict for a man who injured his shoulder at a College Park Kroger
Friday, February 19, 2010
A slip-and-fall case netted a $400,000 verdict for a man who injured his shoulder when he hit the floor after sliding in a puddle of yogurt at a College Park Kroger in February 2007.
Plaintiff’s attorney Scott G. MONGE admitted that he was pleasantly surprised at the size of the award handed down by a Fulton County jury last month.
“Based on our research of Georgia cases, we have been unable to find a verdict for any amount higher involving a rotator cuff tear of Kroger as a defendant”, said MONGE, who represented 52-year-old Karey Chambers along with Todd R. Henningsen and Aaron L. Michelman, all of MONGE & Associates.
MONGE said Chambers, a truck driver, has been unable to work since the fall and has undergone two surgeries since the accident, with medical bills totaling $58,000. Video cameras at the grocery store captured an employee walking past the spilled yogurt several times before Chambers fell, said MONGE. He added that the camera did not catch footage of the actual accident.
The defense portion of the pretrial order does not dispute the facts of the case but counters that Kroger “exercised ordinary care” and that “any injuries or damages allegedly sustained by the plaintiff were the direct and proximate result of a pure accident.”
The case went to mediation but could not be resolved, said MONGE. Prior to trial, the plaintiffs demanded $385,000 to settle, but Kroger never raised its offer of $15,000, he said.
“At the outset during voir dire, Judge Roth noted that it looked like we had a tough jury pool with potential jurors saying things like, ‘the customer is usually at fault’. We ultimately were able to strike some jurors for cause,” he said, “but we still had great concerns about the panel.”
On Jan. 29, the jury awarded Chambers $400,000.
The case is Chambers v. The Kroger Co., No. 08EV005981A.
