A Henry County Superior Court jury will decide a negligence case stemming from an auto accident that occurred over 12 and one-half years ago.

McDonough, GA—Trial began today in Henry County Superior Court in an automobile negligence case stemming from an accident that occurred 4,584 days earlier. Nita King v. Olin Wayne Davis [Deceased] 2008-SU-CV-3386.

This is the second trial based on a July 28, 2002, accident between Nita King and Olin Wayne Davis. The first trial was held in Henry County State Court in 2006, and King filed the current lawsuit in 2008. Davis has died since the accident, and the defense is expected to introduce his testimony from the previous trial and earlier deposition he made into evidence.

Nita King testified today that she was driving her two-year-old son to work on the day of the accident when Davis’ vehicle hit her car with such force that she immediately blacked out. She said that she had received periodic medical treatment from various physicians since the accident and was unable to work for over a year due to her injuries. In addition to injuring her neck, knee, and shoulder in the accident, King added that she now suffers from memory losses and an inability to concentrate. King also showed the jury her facial injuries, which she described as an “indented forehead,” that she said she received in the accident.

In her opening statement, defense attorney Josanne Celestine pointed out that King had been involved in three other automobile accidents since 2002 and that, each time, she complained of similar physical injuries to the neck, shoulder, and knee. When questioned by her attorney Graylin Ward about those subsequent accidents, King said that her earlier injuries resulting from the 2002 accident never fully healed and that she aggravated those earlier injuries in the later accidents.

Testimony will resume with the defense’s cross-examination of King. Both parties said they expect to present the case to the jury by the end of the week.

Defense attorney Christopher Penna delivers his closing argument to the jury shortly before they delivered a $425,000 verdict for Plaintiff Lee Scott Collins.

Decatur, GA - A DeKalb County jury awarded $425,000 in damages to a driver whose Jeep Cherokee was spun around and pushed sideways several hundred feet by a fully loaded tractor-trailer. Lee Scott Collins v. Lonzia Collins, KCH Trucking Company and Westfield Insurance Company, 13-A-48999.

Lee Scott Collins was driving the Jeep and hauling an attached dog trailer on I-75 in Cook County on April 19, 2012. According to evidence presented at trial and court documents, a KCH Trucking Company truck driven by Lonzia Collins (who is no relation to the plaintiff) struck the trailer and spun it around, jackknifing Lee Collins’ Jeep. The truck then hit the Jeep broadside on the driver’s side and pushed it several hundred feet before the vehicles came to a stop.

During the two-day trial, Lee Collins told jurors that the collision was harrowing. “Then the next thing you see is the grill of that truck right here,” Collins said. “You think you’re pretty much done; I mean you pretty much figure life is over at that point.”

The extent of Lee Collins’ injuries served as a key issue at trial. The jury heard extensive testimony from seven expert medical witnesses, including Collins’ treating physicians, on the issue. Collins’ attorneys introduced evidence that the accident injured Collins’ shoulder and back and led to post-traumatic stress disorder in their client. His doctor recommended surgery for his shoulder injury, which Collins has not yet undergone.

Lee Collins’ attorney, R. Scott Campbell of Shiver Hamilton, explained his client’s decision not to undergo the surgery he says he needs. “He doesn’t want the surgery. He’s dreading it,” Campbell said. But “(Collins) has come to the realization as it comes to his shoulder that he needs it.”  Campbell pointed out that the doctors who had actually treated Collins linked Collins’ injuries to the accident, while defense experts had never treated Collins.

By contrast, defense attorney Christopher Penna, of Penna & Mendocino, noted in closings that Lee Collins was treated for his injuries at a local clinic until September 2012, and did not visit another doctor until February 2014, when physicians determined that Collins’ physical problems were caused by the accident. During that nearly 17-month period, the plaintiff filed the lawsuit at issue. Penna also noted the lack of objective medical evidence to support a conclusion that the accident caused Collins’ ailments.

Penna said that Collins’ description of his condition before and after the accident “doesn’t prove to what extent the injuries or subjective complaints were caused by the accident. Just because something happens afterwards doesn’t mean it was caused by a specific event… particularly when the sole basis of liability linking up those events are subjective complaints by someone with a specific financial interest in this case.”

After the trial, Scott Campbell praised the jury for its attentiveness and perseverance in the case, noting that they deliberated until nearly 10:00 pm on a Friday night before reaching a verdict. He also expressed appreciation that the jury “got it right” by returning a verdict that Lee Collins was not in any way at fault in the accident. The defense attorney was not available for comment by the time of this article’s publication.

CVN will provide gavel-to-gavel video coverage of this trial as soon as it is available.

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Attorneys involved in the case include R. Scott Campbell of Atlanta's Shiver Hamilton representing plaintiff and Christopher Penna of Conyers' Penna & Mendocino for the defense.

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