The threat of nuclear verdicts in personal injury cases in Colorado became a reality in Denver District Court in May 2024 after a jury verdict of $18,809,431 was awarded to a plaintiff in a lawsuit stemming from a collision in which a driver employed by a logistics company was driving an F-150 and rear-ended a van transporting a developmentally disabled adult plaintiff. The van was being driven by an employee of an adult day program service provider. The driver of the van slowed to avoid an object in the road and was rear-ended by the defendant driver in the F-150, who was in the scope and course of his employment.
The plaintiff's alleged injuries included intracranial brain hemorrhage resulting in brain injury and paralysis. Damages included past medical expenses of $5,891,996 and a life care plan that ranged from $3,713,762 to $25,399,611. The plaintiff requested total damages of $131 million, including past medical expenses, life care plan, and $100 million for impairment. The plaintiff alleged that both the driver of the van in which he was a passenger and the driver of the F-150 that rear-ended the van were negligent. He claimed respondeat superior against the logistics company for the negligence of the driver of the F-150. The logistics company and driver of the F-150 denied negligence and asserted that the van driver stopped suddenly without warning, thereby causing the plaintiff's injuries and damages. All defendants denied causation of the plaintiff's brain injury and asserted pre-existing conditions.
The verdict was for the plaintiff with 100% negligence charged to the driver of the F-150 and logistics company. Total damages were $18,809,431, with $3 million for physical impairment and $15,809,431 for economic losses. Post-trial motions are currently pending.
Although defendants in the Denver metro area have long been cautious about trying cases involving tractor trailers, cases such as this involving smaller work trucks and pick-up trucks are seeing an increase in associated claimed damages. In cases where a driver is traveling in the course and scope of his or her employment with a company, many plaintiffs are pushing for eight- and nine-figure verdicts, with the hopes of finding a jury like this one in Denver.
Despite the looming threat of nuclear damages in personal injury claims, the results are often more favorable if liability is seriously in dispute. In January 2024 in Arapahoe County District Court, in the Denver metropolitan area, a plaintiff sought $12 million in damages from a side-swipe collision involving a truck driver employed by a storm water management company. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant driver and his employer.
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