David Christensen · Sarah Stempky Kime
TLU Live NYC (REPLAY) - 8 Minutes to $9.5 million
November 14, 2023 6:30 PM||TLU n Demand
Learn the most effective approaches taken in a trial where liability and damages both had a lot of landmines. Follow along as trial attorneys David Christensen and Sarah Stempky-Kime dissect the process that brought this case to a $9.5 million verdict, including extensive focus groups, visual aids, and important proof decisions. Learn the strategies that worked best in all aspects of plaintiff’s case, and see how the team used powerful demonstratives and evidence, as well as actual courtroom footage in closing.
Overview:
31 year-old Cameron was assaulted outside a gas station at 4:48 in the morning. He was slashed across his bicep, which opened up his brachial artery. Bleeding precipitously, he entered the convenience store seeking help. After he collapsed to the floor, the employee ejected Cameron from the store, and he laid down immediately outside the door to the store. Over the next ten minutes, numerous customers continued to step around Cameron as he lay bleeding to go into the store and make their purchases. The employee checked on him several times, always with his cell phone in his hand. It appeared that he was taking video of Cameron as he lay bleeding out. At 4:58 the employee gave Cameron a bottle of water, and he took a drink of it. The employee finally called police at 5:00. The police took 3 minutes to arrive. They put a tourniquet on Cameron, but it was too late. Cameron had died.
Plaintiff’s experts testified that if the employee had called 911 eight minutes earlier, Cameron would easily have survived if a tourniquet was applied.
Cameron was disabled with schizophrenia. He was survived by his divorced parents, and his maternal grandparents. He had not seen his parents for two years prior to his death by his own choice. The offer was always zero. The verdict was $9.5 million which included $4 million for conscious pain and suffering and a total of $5.5 million for loss of consortium by his parents and grandparents.
This presentation will break down the challenges posed by this case and the strategies used to overcome them.
