Traumatic Brain Injury Verdicts: Gregory Sutton v. E.G. Middleton, Inc. and Simon R. Bettinger

GREGORY SUTTON V. E.G. MIDDLETON, INC. AND SIMON R. BETTINGER

RESULT: $45,000 Past Medical Expenses and $2.5 Million for future medical expenses, loss of earning capacity and non-economic damages

STATE: Virginia

INJURY: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury resulting in memory loss and neurological impairments, including tremors and difficulty balancing, soft tissue injuries to his shoulder and neck and a knee injury that required surgical repair.

FACTS: A shipyard worker involved in a multi-vehicle collision claimed to have sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury when his vehicle was struck from behind by a commercial truck. The driver and his employer disputed liability and damages. After a 5 day trial, a Newport News jury deliberated for 2 hours before returning a verdict in favor of the defendants.

Plaintiff Gregory Sutton was traveling through the Monitor/Merrimac bridge tunnel in July, 2001. Defendant Simon R. Bettinger was driving a pick up truck owned by Defendant E.G. Middleton, Inc., directly behind him. Plaintiff's vehicle was struck by defendants' vehicle as he attempted to avoid involvement in a multi vehicle pileup that had already occurred in the tunnel.

Plaintiff alleged defendant Bettinger failed to maintain a proper lookout and was traveling too fast for conditions when negligently struck his vehicle from behind. He claimed that the rear impact forced him into the vehicle that had stopped in front of him and caused him to strike his head on the rear view mirror resulting in a Traumatic Brain Injury.

Defendants denied liability and disputed the alleged Traumatic Brain Injury claim. Defense counselors argued that while traveling through the tunnel plaintiff swerved suddenly to the right revealing the stopped vehicles in front of him causing defendant to slam his breaks in an effort to avoid a collision. Defendant maintained that he was unsuccessful in avoiding the stopped cars but that he did not strike plaintiff. The defendant driver and his passenger both testified that plaintiff's vehicle was off to the right as defendants' truck began crash into the stopped car and that plaintiff swerved back to the left and struck defendants' truck. Defendants also claimed that if plaintiff had any cognitive dysfunction, it was unrelated to the accident. They argued that plaintiff had no immediate complaints of head trauma, did not reveal to emergency medical providers that he had struck his head and

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