LOCAL LAW FIRM MORRIS CARY ANDREWS TALMADGE AND DRIGGERS REPRESENT PLAINTIFFS IN $3.8 MILLION DOLLAR VERDICT

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
Date: Aug 30 2015 7:07 AM

LOCAL LAW FIRM MORRIS CARY ANDREWS TALMADGE AND DRIGGERS REPRESENT PLAINTIFFS IN $3.8 MILLION DOLLAR VERDICT

A Geneva county jury returned a $3.8 Million dollar verdict on Friday afternoon following a weeklong trial arising from an automobile accident caused by a driver under the influence of alcohol.

The accident occurred on October 15, 2013, in Geneva County at the intersection of Alabama Highway 167 and Geneva County road 41. The accident was caused by Timothy Joel Thomas of Geneva County who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision. Thomas failed to stop for a stop sign and drove into the path of a silver Nissan occupied by Randall and Donna Heard of Huntsville, Alabama. As a result of the collision both vehicles were overturned. Thomas' 16 year old minor passenger Of Hartford, and Randall and Donna Heard of Huntsville, all suffered severe and permanent injuries. 

The minor passenger was trapped under the Thomas truck. She suffered severe injuries including brain injuries and a broken jaw. She had to be airlifted via helicopter to Southeast Alabama Medical Center where she remained on life support and underwent surgery.

Randall Heard suffered a severely broken neck requiring extensive neck fusion surgery, and later developed life threatening blood clots in his lungs. Donna Heard suffered a broken foot and seatbelt lacerations and other permanent injuries causing permanent pain.The defendant Tim Thomas also suffered a broken neck.

Thomas denied he was responsible for any of the injuries despite clear testimony from an eyewitness who saw Thomas run the stop sign, and despite blood test results confirming Thomas had a blood alcohol level of .059 to as high as .073. 

Expert testimony at trial established that drivers with an alcohol level as low as .03 begin to have tunnel vision, lose depth of field perception. and lose the ability to make safe decisions. The experts explained that the alcohol level found in Thomas established that Thomas was unsafe and he should not have been driving. 

Following a week long trial, the Geneva county jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs and awarded damages of $3.8 Million dollars.

The plaintiffs were represented by Tracy Cary and Mark Andrews with the law firm Morris Cary Andrews Talmadge and Driggers LLC of Dothan, Lee Knowles of Geneva, and Brent Jordan of Huntsville with the firm Hill, Jordan and Greer. The case was tried before Circuit Judge William Filmore. 

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