Burns v. Maddox, et al., Case no. 17-C-00967.

James Merritt, Jr. (Atlanta, GA) (Auto). In this personal injury case, Vernis & Bowling defended one of two different defendant drivers. The objective evidence in this case established that the sole cause of the subject accident was the negligence of the other defendant. When Plaintiff’s counsel refused to let Vernis & Bowling’s client out of the case, Mr. Merritt served a statutory Offer of Settlement pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 9-11-68. Shortly before the jury trial, we contacted Plaintiff’s counsel and requested for the final time that our client be dismissed from the case. We cautioned Plaintiff’s counsel that the client’s insurer had instructed us to pursue an award of fees and expenses against her client after a successful defense of her claims. Plaintiff’s counsel still refused to dismiss the client and forced us to try the case. After 2 days of evidence, when the Plaintiff rested, Mr. Merritt moved for – and won – a directed verdict. Two days later, after the Plaintiff finally obtained a Judgment against the at-fault co-defendant, we obtained a money judgment against the Plaintiff for all of our client’s attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses from the date the client’s offer was rejected. We then moved the Court to direct the co-defendant’s liability carrier to deposit the judgment payment into the registry of the Court, so that it could be disbursed first to payment of our fees and expenses. In what appeared to be panic, the Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal, which is still pending.