Lawrenceville, GA— Jurors late last month awarded $300,000 to a medical student for knee injuries she suffered in a 2020 car crash. Grimes v. Nemeth, 21-C-07514-S6.
The Gwinnett County (Georgia) State Court jury handed down the award to Mary Katherine Grimes, who contends she suffered knee injuries that have required surgery, therapy, and continue to impact her day-to-day life, when Stephen Nemeth IV ran a red light and struck her car at a Kennesaw State University intersection in Kennesaw, Georgia.
With Nemeth admitting fault for the crash, Thursday’s verdict capped a three-day, damages-only trial that focused on whether the collision caused Grimes’ injuries.
During closings, Nemeth’s attorney, Lori Brennan, of Lynn Leonard & Associates, argued that congenital problems, combined with Grimes' prior athletic experience, caused premature degeneration in Grimes’ knees that was unrelated to the crash. And Brennan added that Grimes' knee issues were not as severe as she claimed.
Brennan pointed to evidence that she said showed Grimes’ knee problems were caused by patella alta, a condition that causes the knee cap to ride higher up the femur, leading to mechanical problems and degeneration, particularly in light of Grimes' background as a competitive volleyball player years before the crash.
And Brennan highlighted witness testimony that she said showed Grimes participated in physical activities and continued her university studies after the wreck.
“How was she living her life after the accident? Her activities: running, cycling, yoga, walks, full-time in medical school,” Brennan said, in suggesting jurors award somewhere between roughly $18,500 and $147,000, only if they felt damages were warranted at all. “What is that worth? More activity than most people, I would say.”
But Grimes’ attorney, Schneider Injury Law’s Bethany Schneider, pushed back on arguments that Grimes suffered from patella alta. And she highlighted testimony of Grimes’ treating physician in arguing that the crash, rather than any congenital issue or degeneration, caused Grimes’ knee injuries. Schneider noted that the cracks seen in Grimes’ knee tissue could only be caused by acute trauma rather than by wear-and-tear across years.
Schneider added that the fact that Grimes’ knee pain began soon after the accident was powerful proof of its cause.
“Is it coincidence, or common sense? No dispute: no evidence of prior knee pain.” Schneider said, before requesting just over $1.6 million in damages. “Mary Katherine had 8,000 days on earth with no knee pain. And the day after she was in a car wreck, she has knee pain.”
After the verdict, Schneider told CVN that, while the award was five times the $60,000 highest-offer made by the insurer defending the claim on an uninsured motorist policy, she still had mixed feelings about the end result.
Schneider said time for voir dire was severely limited and she was prohibited from asking questions on pain and suffering. Those restrictions, she said, led to the ultimate seating of jurors generally opposed to pain-and-suffering damages. She added that she later learned one juror brought her personal accident history, and its low payout, to bear when deliberating the case.
Schneider said jurors ultimately decided to award some amount of pain-and-suffering damages based on evidence that Grimes' pain level increased after physical activity, but Schneider said she believed the limitations on voir dire likely improperly held down the award.
“Not being allowed to ask [about pain and suffering damages] and being really limited in voir dire… seemed to play into the outcome,’ Schneider said, noting she and Grimes’ attorney, Peter Bricks, of Peter Bricks, P.C., were considering whether to appeal.
“It’s kind of a 'Congratulations' verdict, but at the same time it definitely was much lower than I’d hoped for,” Schneider told CVN, adding that a claim on a primary, $100,000 liability policy had been settled before trial.
CVN reached out to Lori Brennan, who has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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