Verdicts & Results

Roane Law Fights

Personal disclaimer: Not all cases are the same, and I didn’t put all of my cases below. I have settled and tried hundreds and maybe even close to a thousand cases over my career. I have won the vast majority of cases that I have tried. A “loss” means recovering less than an insurance company offered. Having said this, I am sure that my day is coming. If you try enough cases, you will simply lose some of them. The cases that I listed below were some of the most exciting, but all cases are different.

$4,000,000

Scalding – Nursing Home Neglect

An elderly woman with Alzheimer’s was going to take a bath, but the hot water heater was broken in the nursing home causing the water to be far too hot. The nursing home literally knew the heater was broken. The management ordered that the gas company “tag out” be taken off and the water heater cut back on. When she got into the tub, she received severe scald burns over the bottom half of her body that lead to her death.

$3,800,000

Catastrophic Car Wreck – Car Accidents

A young lady and her fiance were coming back from the beach when a drunk driver crossed the center line and hit them head-on. Her fiance was killed instantly as well as the drunk driver. Both cars caught on fire, and she was trapped inside. By the time EMS arrived to cut her out of her car, the toes on her foot had burned off. She had multiple surgeries and had hundreds of thousands in medical bills. We fought the case very hard. We found out that the defendant had a prior drinking problem, even though this was initially denied by the defense. We even found out where he had been receiving such treatment. While we wished no ill will against the deceased defendant, the young girl who was injured was going to need a lot of help. After a year of litigation, we settled the case for $3.8 million and we collected every dime for this young lady.

$950,000

Construction Injury

A steelworker was injured when a bucket of cement was dropped on top of him. He suffered multiple orthopedic injuries as well as a moderate brain injury. This case was fought through litigation in Davie County for years, and the construction company paid just a few weeks before trial.

$675,000

Nursing Home Neglect

I can’t talk too much about this case as the facts are protected by a confidential settlement. In fact, most nursing home settlements are covered by such confidentiality. I will say that the nursing home was a decent nursing home that made a very, very bad mistake. Having said this, we still had to file suit as the nursing home wouldn’t make an offer pre-suit. The nursing home tried to bind us using an arbitration agreement. We won and beat the arbitration agreement in court, but they appealed it to the court of appeals. Ultimately, we settled the case while the appeal was pending.

$579,000

Hurt in Business – Premises Liability

A lady went to the Carpet Mart in Burlington to look at some rugs and the entire rack came off the wall and fell on top of her. She had almost $80,000 in medical bills and multiple surgeries including back fusion. Of course, the insurance company refused to pay the claim. We tried the case in Burlington, and the jury rendered a verdict of $579,000. The insurance policy was only $500,000. So, the Carpet Mart then had a $79,000 excess verdict against them. We decided to drop that part and limit recovery to the insurance. We didn’t want to bankrupt the business, and the insurance company was the one who refused to pay a dime and force the case to trial.

$480,000

Pressure Sores – Nursing Home Neglect

An elderly woman went into the Brian Center of Lexington nursing home for rehab after knee surgery. The nursing home would drop off the food tray without taking the time to feed her. She lost a lot of weight, more than ten percent of her body weight and yet staff did nothing and did not notify family or the doctor. The resident developed a stage IV pressure sore that required repeated surgeries over one year. The nursing home offered $38,000 to settle, which was less than the medical bills for the surgery. The jury in Davidson County was only out for a few hours before coming back with one of the largest verdicts in Davidson County history.

$300,000

Truck and Motorcycle Wreck

A truck driver was involved in a collision with a motorcycle, in which the truck driver was injured. The truck ran over the motorcycle at 40 mph, and this caused the back of the truck to bounce down the roadway causing a neck injury. The truck driver had fusion on his neck and had over $100,000 in medical bills. The defendant’s insurance company offered $1,500 and flatly refused any further negotiations. The truck driver’s UIM would not offer anything. Three physicians testified by video deposition, and the jury returned a $300,000 verdict.

$279,000

Car Accident Severe Injury

We took a case in just before the statute of limitations. We felt bad because the lady had just been dumped by a prior law firm that had represented her for almost three years. The other firm refused to file a lawsuit for her and apparently had just intended to settle. Many law firms are like that, and this affects their ability to settle at all as insurance companies aren’t stupid. The case wasn’t easy as there was literally no property damage. In such cases, insurance companies often offer very little. In this case, they offered nothing pre-suit even though her medical bills were high from a fusion surgery. I met with the lady and took it because she was very nice, and had no prior medical treatment at all. After we filed suit, we deposed her doctor. This was a critical deposition, and it was hard-fought by a talented defense attorney. I prepared very hard for the deposition, and it went great. We established causation, and as a result, we settled the case at mediation.

$230,000

Ankle Injury – Car Accidents

A young lady was injured in a serious car accident. She broke her ankle in the wreck, which required multiple surgeries and physical therapy. The insurance company tried to deny coverage on the vehicle and the case was litigated in Guilford County for more than a year before they finally settled.

Confidential Settlement

Car Wreck Death

In Randolph County, a lady was being transported to a local hospital. However, the van driver did not secure her properly and she slammed to the floor. The lady broke her hip and died from these complications in the hospital. This case was tried for three days until the insurance company finally admitted fault and settled.

$614,043

Guilford County

$579,000

Alamance County

$480,000

Davidson County

$239,000

Davidson County

$229,000

Davidson County

$150,000

Alamance County

$115,000

Guilford County

$100,000

Randolph County

$68,000

Randolph County

$50,000

Robeson County

$42,250

Guilford County

$42,250

Guilford County

$29,000

Rockingham County

$6,500

Davidson County