Case Autopsy: The Settlement and Verdict Podcast Lawyer Minds

In this episode, Mike Campbell and Chris Finney sit down with Wes Shumate of Davis Bethune & Jones to talk about a recent case verdict he and his firm were able to achieve for a sheriff’s deputy who was sexually assaulted in her own hotel room in 2016 while attending a crime scene investigation seminar in downtown St. Louis.
The jury awarded the woman $177 million, including $149 in punitive damages. The court agreed with Wes Shumate that the hotel needed to be held accountable for letting the assault occur. The assaulter was a security guard employed by the hotel who used his master key to enter the victim’s room while she was sleeping.
During the pod, Wes dives deep into the details of the case and how it transpired.  
 
 

Coming off several outstanding verdicts, Nolan Drafahl sits down with Chris and Mike to discuss a wide range of topics. In the pod, Nolan describes a recent medical malpractice trial, his own experience with serving as a juror, and how all of his experiences form his approach to trying cases. The discussion was good enough to break this podcast into two episodes. This is part 2 of the discussion.

Coming off several outstanding verdicts, Nolan Drafahl sits down with Chris and Mike to discuss a wide range of topics. In the pod, Nolan describes a recent medical malpractice trial, his own experience with serving as a juror, and how all of his experiences form his approach to trying cases. The discussion was good enough to break this podcast into two episodes. Part II of our discussion with Nolan will be released in Episode 16.

In this episode, attorney Mark Prince talks about his how theme, “time is of the essence,” resonated with jurors during a recent medical malpractice trial. Mike and Mark talk about Mark’s approach to jury selection, opening, and evidence presentation. In his practice, Mark Prince concentrates on representing people who have been harmed in any manner by the wrongful conduct of other people or corporations. His passion for lending a helping hand to those in need has resulted in Mark handling just about every type of personal injury case we can imagine.

Rick Barrera and Adrian Vega join the pod today to discuss an outstanding result they obtained in a very complicated medical malpractice case on behalf of a very deserving child. As listeners will learn, the experts in this case were not getting behind Adrian’s theories of liability. Through resilience, hard work, and countless hours, Adrian was able to find a path to liability and managed to get experts on board. The case also speaks to the power of teamwork, as Adrian’s partners Rick and Kent were able to look at this very complicated case from a “10,000 foot view” and help establish a theme that jurors could follow. As discussed on the pod, even though the medicine was complicated, the reason why these doctors failed their patient was not. Through grit and determination, these outstanding lawyers were able to guide this case to a result that ensured the injured child will have a lifetime of care.

Over a decade ago, a University of Virginia womans’ lacrosse player, Yeardly Love, was murdered by her boyfriend. Even though a jury found him guilty and sentenced him to 25 years in prison, Love’s family was left without closure. Partial closure was finally received by the family when a trial team, led by Kevin Biniazan, was able to convince a civil jury that the murder of Yeardly Love was willful and wanton. Through outstanding lawyering, Biniazan was able to ensure the jury found both that Huguely willfully murdered Love and the ensured the verdict would not be dischargeable in bankruptcy. Biniazan joins Tad and Mike to discuss the verdict, his work on the case, and the meaning it had for the family.