The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal has released its list of the top verdicts of last year, and Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP has been featured on the list not once, but twice, for efforts to aid clients in the personal injury legal realm.
First, Brian Panish and Spencer Lucas represented a woman who suffered serious injuries after her vehicle was struck by a truck operated by J.B. Hunt Transport Services. The collision forced the plaintiff to experience bleeding in the area around the brain, retrograde amnesia, and a concussion. This left her unable to work, and more than four years on, she still deals with depression and cognitive impairment.
The parties were able to agree to the liability of J.B. Hunt after it was discovered that the driver of the truck had a history of safety issues during his tenure in the trucking industry. Although Hunt offered to settle for a scant $2 million, the jury eventually handed down a verdict worth $20 million plus attorney fees and punitive damages. Although Mr. Panish feels the amount could have been higher given the situation the injured party faced, he believes that this decision went a long way toward altering the way the trucking company screens applicants prior to offering employment.
Another precedent was set when Mr. Panish and other lawyers with our firm represented a pair of individuals from India who suffered serious injuries when a Schneider National Carriers Truck attempted to pass their vehicle in an inappropriate manner, leading to a collision. When the Riverside County jury awarded the pair $36.5 million (and their relative $1.4 million), it became the largest verdict ever issued in the county, and it came from a conservative jury that the defendants believed would not decide in favor of plaintiffs from India. Mr. Panish explained that facts and evidence can go a long way toward overturning any potential biases or language barriers.