McMickle, Kurey & Branch, LLP partners Zach Matthews and Luke Kennedy obtained a de facto defense verdict in an admitted liability truck wreck case in Hall County State Court. The case involved a low-speed bumper tap rear end accident involving a tractor trailer. Plaintiff claimed $320k in medical special damages at trial. While conducting extensive discovery, MKB was able to obtain a spreadsheet from Barbour Orthopedics which showed an extremely significant, ongoing referral relationship with Plaintiff’s counsel, Witherite Law Group as well as the amounts Barbour billed and accepted from other plaintiffs who it had treated on a lien. While much of this evidence was ultimately excluded by Judge Breakfield at trial, MKB’s attorneys were still able to effectively demonstrate the significant bias, intent, and motive of Plaintiff’s testifying expert from Barbour Orthopedics. Because of the significant discovery efforts, Defendants were well prepared for trial and were able to obtain a successful result for their clients and their insurer, Protective Insurance Company. Plaintiff asked the jury for $1.4M at trial and the jury awarded $60k which triggered Defendants’ prior OCGA 9-11-68 Offer of Settlement, resulting in Plaintiff owing Protective more than $200k.