Despite a national insurance company offering a maximum settlement of only $12,500, attorneys for Birmingham-based Alexander Shunnarah Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C. in recent days delivered a massive verdict for one of the country’s heroes.
Last Thursday — just in time for Veterans Day, a Jefferson County Circuit Court jury returned a unanimous verdict awarding $18,000,000 in damages to U.S. Army and Afghanistan combat veteran, Zachary Lucas, who suffered a catastrophic brain injury when he was struck on I-22 by a van driven by Michael Cannon.
Cannon was insured by Progressive Insurance Company, who apparently tried to play hardball with the critically injured veteran.
The case was tried for four days by Brandon Bishop and Andrew Moak of Alexander Shunnarah’s firm.
In a statement, Shunnarah praised the work of his team and emphasized that the Seventh Amendment makes this type of justice possible.
“We are extremely proud of our stellar legal team that worked to obtain the recent verdict on behalf of our client, Zachary Lucas. At Alexander Shunnarah Personal Injury Attorneys, we will fight to bring our clients the justice deserved,” Shunnarah said.
“The 7th Amendment provides the right of trial by jury and we are proud to execute this right on behalf of our deserving clients,” he added.
According to a release from the law firm, Lucas’ motorcycle ran out of gas on I-22 at approximately 10:00 p.m. on November 16, 2015. At that point, he pulled the vehicle to the shoulder of the highway and was subsequently struck by Cannon’s vehicle while on foot.
The exact location of the crash became the main issue in the case.
Lucas’ attorneys argued that Cannon struck him while inspecting the motorcycle on the shoulder of the road, with the verdict implying that the attorneys were successful when they attempted to introduce expert testimony and physical evidence to the jury that proved that the impact occurred on the shoulder.
Lucas’ injuries were serious and life-threatening. Although he wore a helmet at the time of the crash, Lucas reportedly suffered a fractured skull and brain hemorrhages that left him with serious, permanent physical and mental deficits. With several members of his family on hand in the courtroom gallery, he apparently offered dramatic and compelling testimony to the jury about his injuries and their effect on his life.
Moak commented, “Nobody deserved this verdict more than Zac Lucas, whose injuries are as devastating to him and to his family as anything we have ever seen. Zac will hopefully now be able to finally get the help that he badly needs.”
The jury deliberated for approximately one hour and 15 minutes before unanimously returning the verdict, finding that Cannon was responsible for Lucas’ medical bills, his permanent injuries and the physical pain and suffering and mental anguish that were consequences of his injuries.
Bishop outlined that going to trial was not the first option in this case.
“We gave Progressive Insurance Company a full opportunity to settle Zac’s case before we filed a lawsuit against its insured, Michael Cannon,” he stated. “Instead, Progressive chose to offer Zac $12,500.00 and sent the message that if he did not accept it, the insurance company would take the case to trial. Clearly, the jury agreed with Zac and we are glad that they did.”
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
