CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Sean Claggett delivering his closing argument
Provo, UT - A Utah state court jury has delivered a record $81 million verdict for the family and friends of a child struck and killed by a truck in a crosswalk after an initial trial ended in a defense verdict, and the full retrial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The jury returned its verdict on March 13 in a trial that began on March 2. They found that Rusty Cope, a driver for Allied Building Products, is responsible for the 2018 death of Michael Madsen. Madsen’s family accused Allied of hiring a dangerously inexperienced driver with a checkered safety record who sped into a crosswalk, however the defense argued Madsen ran in front of the truck.
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Attorney Sean Claggett of Claggett & Sykes Trial Lawyers, who represented the Madsen family, told CVN after the trial the verdict far exceeds the defense’s $1 million settlement offer made just prior to closing arguments and noted the verdict helped cement an eventual undisclosed settlement that will preclude any appeals.
“While the jury was deliberating there was a frenzy of negotiations and we were able to reach an agreement that required the verdict for the deal to be finalized,” Claggett said. “We are very happy with the negotiations that result in closure for the family and no more litigation.”
He added he believes the verdict is the largest in Utah history, beating out the previous record-holding civil verdict of $25 million.
Attorneys for the defense did not respond to requests for comment from CVN.
The verdict broke down to $33 million for each of Madsen's parents, and $7.5 million each to two of Madsen's friends who witnessed the collision.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Ruth Shapiro delivering her closing argument
Claggett attributed the vastly different outcome compared to the first trial with the composition of the jury as opposed to the strength of the evidence.
“The biggest difference in the two cases was jury selection and having the jury really understand that the law in Utah requires them to judge the actions of our deceased client who was an 11-year-old boy. We were able to pick a great jury,” he said. “We waived all of our peremptory challenges and just took the first ten jurors who were qualified.”
Claggett is one of the most highly sought after plaintiff attorneys in the country, so with his pick of cases he said how well the Madsen family’s suit held up under his rigorous trademark pre-trial data analysis ultimately brought him to Utah.
“I pick my cases by looking at the data studies, making sure the referring attorney has worked the case up well enough for us to try, and the case must be morally on the high ground,” he explained.
Claggett built a name for himself as one of the earliest and most sophisticated users of pre-trial focus groups to vet cases, and he said the substantial award he asked for was solidly backed up by the numbers. He also had strong confidence heading into trial that jurors would reject an argument blaming the decedent for running in front of the truck.
“We also knew that the defense blaming our client the way they did would be totally rejected by the jury, just as we saw the big data focus group reject this position being taken by the defense,” he said.
The defense likely based that strategy on video surveillance footage that clearly showed Madsen running into the crosswalk, but Claggett said he elected on challenging that head-on using testimony from one of the defense’s own experts.
“We just owned this fact and used the defense expert to explain that it is normal for people to run into the crosswalk once the walk signal illuminates,” Claggett explained. “I used the massive number of Provo joggers as the example and the defense expert agreed that it was ok to run into the crosswalk and that it was the driver's responsibility not to run them over.”
Claggett also attributed his strategy to lessons learned from a previous trial also covered by CVN where he represented the family of another child killed in a crosswalk collision. The Nevada jury in that case assigned the child 27 percent responsibility for the accident, an outcome he avoided in this case.
“I really leaned into the running and owned it and took that away from the defense,” he said. “By owning the worst fact, I empowered the jury to see how ridiculous it was to blame a child or anyone who has a walk symbol for running into the crosswalk.”
The Utah verdict also carries significance due to taking place in a jurisdiction not known for excessive jury awards, however Claggett believes large verdicts are possible in any location if the facts of the case are strong enough.
“Venue arguments are a myth,” he stated. “I have grown to love the saying ‘it's impossible until it isn’t’.”
He also highlighted the emotional bond he and the Madsen family forged during the case.
"My clients are amazing people and they will always grieve the loss of their beautiful son," Claggett said. "I cried a lot with them preparing for trial, and we cried with the verdict. I am very fortunate they trusted me with their case."
Claggett was backed up by local Utah counsel Blake Johnson of Johnson Livingston Personal Injury LLC.
The defense was represented by Jones Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C.
The case is captioned Madsen v. Beacon, et al., case number 190401592.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com