Lee and Huh v. Staples, Inc., et al., Case no. 16-C-06515-S3.

James Merritt, Jr. (Atlanta, GA) (Commercial Auto) After colliding with a Staples 26-foot delivery truck in an office complex parking lot, the Plaintiffs (the driver and passenger in the other vehicle) filed this personal injury case against Staples and its delivery driver. Staples denied liability for the accident. At mediation, Staples offered a nominal amount to settle, but the Plaintiffs refused to come down from their demand of around $1 million. The Plaintiffs claimed a combined total of around $250,000 in medical bills, which included surgery on one of them. Photos of the property damage were unimpressive – the Plaintiff’s Honda Pilot SUV sustained only minor damage costing around $1,500 to repair. The Plaintiffs’ treating doctors all blamed their injuries on the subject accident. However, the defense offered the un-rebutted testimony of a biomechanical expert, who testified that the force of this minor, low-speed parking lot accident could not have possibly caused any injuries more than a temporary soft tissue injury. Since the trial took place in the State Court of Gwinnett County, which has been an increasingly dangerous venues for the defense in recent years, the defense hired a jury consultant to assist them in voir dire. After a 3-day jury trial, Plaintiff’s counsel, who is a polished and respected trial attorney, asked the jury for a total verdict of over $1,300,000.00 in his closing argument. After deliberating for around 2 hours, the jury returned a defense verdict ($0.00). The Plaintiffs then hired appellate counsel, who tried to leverage a settlement from Staples if they avoided a potentially lengthy appeals process, and he filed a motion for a new trial. Mr. Merritt filed an aggressive response in opposition to that motion, which included a cross-motion for attorneys’ fees for frivolous litigation. After reading the response and motion for sanctions, Plaintiffs’ trial counsel withdrew from the case altogether and their appellate counsel withdrew his motion for a new trial just days before oral argument was scheduled to take place.