Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (February 26, 2024) – Nationwide insurance and civil litigation defense firm Tyson & Mendes LLP has saved their client more than $4 million in a high-risk car accident case, delivering a verdict of less than one-fifth of the plaintiff’s asserted damages. Ft. Lauderdale Partner Robert O’Malley, Jacksonville Managing Partner Holly Howanitz, and Jacksonville Partner Catherine Crawley defended Progressive Insurance at trial.

Kayla Griessman v. Progressive Select Insurance Company involved a significant t-bone collision in which both vehicles were declared total losses. The defendant, driving a Ford Fusion, pulled out in front of a Mini Cooper going approximately 65 mph. The plaintiff, a 29-year-old woman with no related prior medical history, sustained permanent injuries including multiple herniated discs and a detached coccyx.

The plaintiff had incurred $53,000 in medical bills at the time of trial and doctors suggested care over her lifetime would exceed $1.2 million. At the trial in St. John’s County, Florida, lawyers for the plaintiff argued that she was owed for her present and future medical bills and an additional $4 million in pain and suffering.

“No one disagreed that the plaintiff’s injuries were permanent and that her treatment was reasonable, our defense expert agreed on both counts,” said O’Malley. “We accepted responsibility and were prepared to cover her medical bills. At issue here was the request of $4 million for pain and suffering. We believed the plaintiff would be able to resume a normal life with her new spouse after undergoing surgery.”

Based on the facts of the case, the Tyson & Mendes team told the jury $250,000 was more appropriate in opening statements and closing arguments, anchoring the case at a much lower number than plaintiff’s asserted damages. The jury returned a verdict in the amount of $1,012,532.82. After setoffs are applied, the verdict will be less than $1 million.

“We extend our sympathies to the plaintiff for her injuries but are grateful to the jury for their care in assessing the facts of this case and delivering a verdict based on reasonableness and common sense,” said Howanitz.

The team applied the firm’s proven defense methods of accepting responsibility, providing a number, personalizing the defendant, and arguing pain and suffering to secure a substantial savings of more than $4 million for their client.

Serving 21 states nationwide, Tyson & Mendes is one of the fastest growing civil defense firms in the U.S. and is proud to offer one of the fastest and clearest paths to partnership of any mid-sized law firm in the U.S. The firm is honored to be recognized perennially on Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms lists, awarded the No. 1 “Ceiling Smasher” in Law360’s 2022 Glass Ceiling Report for female equity partnership, and shortlisted for Financial Times’ 2022 Innovative Lawyers North America Award.

For more information and to view career opportunities, visit www.tysonmendes.com.

About Tyson & Mendes LLP
Tyson & Mendes LLP is a nationwide, AV-rated litigation and trial firm specializing in insurance defense and protecting its clients from Nuclear Verdicts®. Robert Tyson and Patrick Mendes founded the firm in 2002 to defend corporations, insurance companies, and their clients in civil litigation matters. The firm has experienced tremendous growth in the past two decades, with offices across the U.S. serving clients in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Media Contact

Molly Pincherli/Jean Walcher, J. Walcher Communications
molly@jwalcher.com / jean@jwalcher.com, 619-295-7140

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