At the start of 2023 Courtroom View Network published its widely read annual lists of the most impressive plaintiff and defense verdicts in trials filmed the previous year by CVN’s cameras. Those 20 trials - a small fraction of the overall trials covered by CVN in 2022 - featured many of the country’s most formidable plaintiff and defense attorneys and included matters ranging from closely watched bellwethers to high-exposure cases in recurring areas of litigation like slip-and-falls and automotive negligence.
However as our attorney subscribers know all too well, not every trial proceeds all the way to a verdict. Even after empaneling a jury and beginning opening statements trials may not go the distance due to settlements or mistrials. Given the volume of civil trials CVN covers in a given year, some of the trials we cover inevitably meet this fate.
In an effort to highlight the key players in some of those trials, many of which had the potential to make CVN’s top plaintiff or defense verdict lists had their juries completed their work, we are pleased to now present this list of Honorable Mentions as an addendum to our 2022 trial lists.
Subscribers to CVN’s online trial video library (the only online video collection anywhere of civil jury trials) get unlimited on-demand access to all of these trials, along with all the trials on our top plaintiff and defense lists and hundreds more. Sign up today and watch firsthand how the country’s top trial pros set the stage for trials with the potential for significant awards and judge for yourself how they might have ended if the jury reached a verdict.
***
Estate of Craig Sherwood v. SpeedVegas LLC (Las Vegas, NV)
Lawsuit over fiery fatal crash on high-speed driving track settles on third day of trial
For the plaintiff: Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLP
For the defense: Taylor Anderson LLP
Via the CVN News Blog: A Nevada state court jury heard opening statements last May in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a customer at a high-speed driving track who died in a fire after losing control of his rented Lamborghini sports car, but the case resolved shortly after the start of what was expected to be a multi-week trial.
The family of Craig Sherwood sued Speedvegas LLC following the 2017 accident, which left Sherwood and driving instructor Gil Ben-Kely dead after their Lamborghini Aventador slammed into a track wall and burst into flames.
Sherwood’s family blamed the crash on supposedly lax safety standards at a track that allegedly pushed amateur tourists to behave like professional race car drivers, but the company maintained the accident was solely the result of Sherwood’s failure to properly follow safety instructions.
CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Rahul Ravipudi delivering his opening statement
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Brent Anderson delivering his opening statement
***
Garcia, et al. v. Chuy’s Tire Service (San Diego, CA)
$14M wrongful death tire trial settles during jury deliberations
For the plaintiffs: Kiesel Law LLP
For the defense: Clark Hill
Via the CVN News Blog: A California state court lawsuit accusing a used tire dealership of responsibility for a rollover accident resulting in multiple fatalities settled last November during jury deliberations.
Plaintiff counsel asked the San Diego County jury to award roughly $14 million to the family members of three individuals who died in the 2014 accident. He blamed local business Chuy’s Tire Service for failing to swap out a supposedly dangerously worn tire on a 2001 Ford Expedition, which later experienced a tread separation.
However the defense argued Chuy’s had no legal obligation to replace the worn tire, and that the driver’s response to the tread separation could have caused the vehicle rollover more than the separation itself.
CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Paul Kiesel delivering his closing argument
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Dean Olson delivering his closing argument
***
Evans v. Monsanto (St. Louis, MO)
1st Roundup herbicide trial in the City of St. Louis settles on third day after opening statements
For the plaintiff: Wool Trial Law LLC, Bailey Glasser LLP
For the defense: Bartlett Beck LLP, Thompson Coburn LLP, Hollingsworth LLP
Via the CVN News Blog: A Missouri state court jury heard opening statements last November in the first trial in the City of St. Louis involving supposed cancer risks from agrochemical giant Monsanto’s herbicide products, but the case settled shortly afterwards.
In addition to being the first Roundup trial in the City of St. Louis, just miles from Bayer-owned Monsanto’s former U.S. headquarters, the trial was also the first focusing on a more concentrated version of weedkiller called ‘QuickPro’ - as opposed to the Roundup-brand product featured in recent trials - the last five of which ended in defense verdicts for Monsanto.
CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney David Wool delivering his opening statement
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Philip Beck delivering his opening statement
***
Poppell, et al. v. Cardinal Health Inc, et al. (Glynn County, Georgia)
Initial trial in landmark private plaintiff opioid lawsuit ends in mistrial due to Covid-19 concerns
For the plaintiffs: Griffin Durham, Bondurant Mixson & Elmore, The Harrison Firm
For the defendants: Williams Connolly, Hunter MacLean Exley & Dunn, Fox Rothschild
Via the CVN News Blog: An initial trial in litigation that for the first time involved claims from private plaintiffs and not states or local governments against pharmaceutical distributors related to the opioid crisis began last July in Georgia state court, but the proceedings were scuttled days later due to concerns about rising Covid-19 levels in the area.
The case, believed to be the first of its kind, was filed under the Georgia Drug Dealer Liability Act, a law meant to hold drug dealers liable for injuries resulting from drug use. A retrial took place in early 2023 (also covered gavel-to-gavel by CVN), and the jury returned a defense verdict for drug distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson Corporation, and J M Smith Corporation.
CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Jim Durham delivering his opening statement
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Andrew Keys delivering his opening statement
***
Tatum v. The Emory Clinic and Emory Healthcare, Inc. (Decatur, GA)
Hung jury results in mistrial in severe brain damage medical malpractice lawsuit
For the plaintiff: Bell Law Firm, Kurle Justice LLC
For the defense: Bendin Sumrall & Ladner LLC
Via the CVN News Blog: Georgia jurors declared themselves unable to reach a verdict last June over whether medical negligence caused a Georgia hospital patient’s profound brain damage, leading to a mistrial in the case.
DeKalb County State Court Judge Mike Jacobs declared the mistrial following days of deliberations and a week-long trial over what caused Jenni Carswell to suffer a catastrophic respiratory arrest during a stay at Emory Johns Creek Hospital in June 2015. Carswell was three nights into a stay at the hospital when staff discovered she was not breathing. The incident caused severe brain damage that left Carswell in a wheelchair and unable to care for herself, among a host of neurological issues.
***
Perez v. R.J. Reynolds (Santa Fe, NM)
Trial over smoker's throat cancer settles during jury deliberations
For the plaintiff: Bruster PLLC
For the defense: Jones Day
Via the CVN News Blog: Attorneys last November debated what responsibility, if any, R.J. Reynolds had for the deadly throat cancer a New Mexico man developed after decades of smoking, but the case settled during jury deliberations.
Juan Gonzales died in 2019 at age 79 following complications from his second bout with laryngeal cancer. Gonzales had been a smoker for 50 years, favoring Reynolds’ unfiltered Lucky Strike-brand cigarettes until quitting upon his first cancer diagnosis in 2008.
CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Chris Johnson delivering his opening statement
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Jason Keefhus delivering his opening statement
***
Trice v. Dorel Juvenille Group Inc. (Dekalb County, GA)
Products liability trial over allegedly defective child booster seat settles during jury deliberations
For the plaintiff: Beasley Allen Law Firm, YES Law Group
For the defense: ArentFox Schiff, Balch & Bingham LLP
Via the CVN News Blog: As jurors deliberated whether a car seat manufacturer was to blame for the catastrophic injuries a toddler suffered in a 2018 wreck, and after closing arguments in which attorneys for the child’s family suggested jurors should award well over $100 million, the parties settled the case confidentially last March.
Brittany Trice was driving with her two children wearing shoulder-lap safety belts and seated in Dorel Juvenile Group's "Rise" child booster seats when she hit a pickup truck in Tucker, Georgia. Her son, who was 4-years old at the time, suffered spinal injuries that have left him with quadriplegia, require him to breathe with a ventilator, and rely on long-term care.
CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Benjamin Baker delivering his closing argument
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Jonathan Judge delivering his closing argument
***
Soley v. Monsanto (Seattle, WA)
Trial over school contamination with PCB 'forever chemicals' ends in mistrial due to hung jury
For the plaintiff: Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC
For the defense: Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP
Via the CVN News Blog: A Washington State court jury heard opening statements last May in a lawsuit alleging that toxic chemicals manufactured by Bayer-owned agrochemical giant Monsanto caused a range of neurological injuries in a local school, but the case ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury weeks later.
The case marked what was at the time the fourth consecutive trial in King County Superior Court stemming from contamination at the Sky Valley Educational Center in the Monroe School District with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. PCBs, sometimes referred to as "forever chemicals" due to their durability, were used for a variety of industrial purposes before being banned in the 1970’s.
CVN screenshot of plaintiffs attorney Darrell Cochran delivering his opening statement
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Kenneth Reilly delivering his closing argument
***
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com