Michelle Hendrix and Gregory Harris (Mobile, AL) (Commercial Auto) recently tried the case of Mitchell v. Childress and Walley Electric Company in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama. Childress was driving a Walley Electric Company vehicle for a personal mission when he ran a red light at 50 mph (five mph over the posted speed limit of 45 mph). Childress admitted to the investigating officer that he ran the red light. During discovery, Childress vehemently denied texting at the time of the accident, even when he was confronted with his phone records that clearly showed him texting in the moments leading up to the accident. Childress also testified untruthfully about the purpose of his mission at the time of the accident – he admitted to a personal mission, but the plaintiff’s attorney was able to easily prove that he was not truthful when he testified that he was delivering clean pants to his son at school because his son had an accident. School had been out for the summer for approximately two weeks before this accident. Plaintiff filed a complaint against Childress and Walley Electric for Negligence and Wantonness alleging that Walley Electric was vicariously liable because the accident occurred while Childress was in the course and scope of employment.
At trial, Childress admitted that he had lied multiple times during his deposition, including when he testified that he ran the red light because the sun was in his eyes (he was heading West at 8:13 a.m.) and that he was on his way back from his son’s school. At trial, Childress admitted to texting when he ran the red light and that he was on his way back to the job site after delivering money to a friend. He told the jury that he lied during his deposition because his boss, Mr. Walley, was present during his deposition, and he did not want to lose his job, as he was the sole provider for his ten-year-old son. Plaintiff’s counsel tried extremely hard to convince the jury that he was lying about delivering the money because he was trying to protect Walley Electric from a finding of liability, but the jury did not agree.
Before trial, the plaintiff refused to accept anything less than $1,000,000 to settle the case. The plaintiff alleged a three month aggravation of a prior low back injury and new injuries to his neck that included a herniated disc and cervical dystonia resulting in severe migraine headaches. The plaintiff’s headaches are being treated with botulinum toxin injections that he can only receive once every three months. He testified that these injections provide him with relief for approximately three to four weeks, and then he suffers from excruciating migraine headaches for the next two months until he can get his next round of injections. The headaches are so severe that he has to go to a dark room and spend hours at a time in a recliner or in bed. The plaintiff is 51 years of age and he has a life expectancy of 30.34 years.
At trial, the plaintiff asked the jury to award approximately $40,000 in past medical expenses, $337,000 in future medical expenses, $110,000 in past pain and suffering, $110,000 in past mental anguish, $1,011,000 in future pain and suffering, $1,011,000 in future mental anguish, and an unknown amount of punitive damages for wantonness for texting and driving. They asked for more than $2,600,000 plus punitive damages.
After deliberating less than three hours, the jury found negligence by Childress only (they determined he was not in the course and scope of his employment with Walley Electric) and no wantonness by either Defendant. They awarded $325,000 in compensatory damages and nothing for punitive damages because there was not a finding of wantonness. This verdict was below the defendants’ last offer before trial.