CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Jonathan Marko delivering his closing argument
Oakland, MI - A Michigan state court jury awarded roughly $33 million on Monday to a man who suffered brain and back injuries after a school bus driver ran a red light and t-boned his truck, and the full trial was webcast and recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The Oakland County jury returned their verdict in a damages trial that got underway on May 6. A pre-trial ruling found defendant First Student Inc., one of the largest student transport companies in the United States, liable for the 2024 collision that plaintiff Brian Iminski claimed left him with debilitating injuries, tasking jurors solely with determining what amount of damages, if any, his alleged injuries warranted.
Iminski’s attorney, Jonathan Marko of Marko Law PLLC, told CVN after the trial the verdict far exceeds a pre-trial $750K settlement offer from the defense in addition to his own $10 million settlement demand, and that under Michigan law the defense will be responsible for attorney fees and costs. Click here to see a copy of the verdict form.
The full trial, including all witness testimony, is available for unlimited on-demand viewing with a CVN trial video library subscription. Along with unlimited access to this trial, subscriptions include hundreds of other civil jury trials featuring many of the top trial attorneys from throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas. Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a monthly or annual account and start watching the best trial lawyers in the country in action.
With liability already determined by a pre-trial ruling, the trial testimony didn’t focus on whether driver Kentera Jones was responsible for Iminski’s alleged brain and back injuries, which Marko told jurors resulted in a severely reduced quality of life and required numerous costly and invasive medical procedures to treat his chronic pain. Instead it largely dealt with conflicting medical opinions.
The defense, which did not respond to a request for comment, maintained Iminski’s current ailments resulted from pre-existing injuries and suggested to jurors he was trying to secure damages his injuries didn’t justify, referring to the trial as an “opportunity” for him in opening statements and urging an award of between $350K and $500K, suggesting Iminski's trips abroad after the accident negated his claims of a reduced quality of life.
Marko told CVN he attributed the verdict largely to his reliance on Iminski’s treating physicians who knew him prior to the accident as opposed to the expert witnesses relied on primarily by the defense.
“Every treating physician in the case supported that the plaintiff was injured as a result of the crash and not a pre-existing condition as the defense argued,” Marko explained. “The defense did not have a single unbiased witness, and all of their doctors were bought and paid for who only saw the plaintiff one time for the purposes of litigation.”
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Kevin Plagens delivering his closing argument
Elaborating on the development of settlement discussions during the litigation, Marko noted a previous attorney handling the case demanded $500k and received a $350K settlement offer.
“I think that they thought the case would settle in that bracket prior to trial, but once I got involved, I withdrew all previous demands,” Marko stated. He claimed the final $750K settlement offer came the day before trial, but he considered the amount “offensive.”
Marko conceded his client’s complex medical history predating the accident presented a challenge at trial. He explained the fact Iminski did have prior back issues complicated the case, but that quantifying the damages of a mild traumatic brain injury for jurors presented a significant hurdle to overcome.
“We were asking for a lot of money for a Mild traumatic brain injury, which is often difficult to qualify and see,” Marko said.
Marko also largely attributed the trial’s outcome to his cross-examination of the bus driver, suggesting her combative demeanor on the stand and hesitance to accept responsibility for the crash despite the pre-trial liability ruling cast her in a poor light for jurors. He also suggested her firsthand testimony that she saw Iminski limping and injured at the scene helped refute later expert testimony minimizing the impact of the crash.
Marko said he brought a change of clothes with him to the courthouse the day the case went to the jury, not because he planned to hit the gym afterwards but because he and his wife planned to finally take their long-delayed honeymoon to Italy.
“I literally had to bring a change of clothes to the courthouse and change as soon as they finished charging the jury and went straight from the courthouse to the airport where I boarded a flight and heard about the verdict while I was in the air and started crying,” Marko laughed. “The stewardess thought I had too much red wine.”
Marko said the underlying merits of the case ultimately helped him prevail despite a potentially hostile jury.
“Believe in yourself and believe in your client,” he insisted. “We had a very difficult jury selection and the foreperson was a self-proclaimed anti-lawsuit anti-damages Juror that we were able to present the case and win. I had no strikes left, but we were able to do it.”
The defense was represented by Kevin Plagens of Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer PA.
The trial took place before Judge Jacob Cunningham.
The case is captioned Brian Iminski v. First Student, Inc., case number 2024-208656-NI.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
