Introducing Christensen Law - Flipbook - Page 9
jury awards young woman record
verdict after life-changing crash
But as the lawyers recalled, up until that point, the seven jurors wore faces
that would rival the most seasoned of poker pros.
“They were expressionless,” Christensen said. “We were very concerned,
because the jury seemed to be uninvolved. We didn’t feel like we were
impressing them; we thought, ‘Man, we’re not reaching anybody here.’”
But, he added, once plaintiff Vaylma Dorado took the stand, everything
changed, and the jury paid rapt attention to her.
On June 11, the jury awarded Dorado $1,508,434 in economic damages
and $16,302,000 in noneconomic damages. The verdict is the third-largest
reported in Michigan Lawyers Weekly so far this year.
In a September 2010 late-night auto accident in Brownstown Township,
Dorado, then 36, suffered a traumatic brain injury. She also incurred back,
neck, hip, and shoulder injuries that required five surgeries. The defendants
— a cement company and one of its truck drivers who hit Dorado’s car —
admitted liability.
In litigating the damages before Judge Brian R. Sullivan, Christensen and
Stempky, both of Christensen Law in Southfield, chose to start with medical
and psychological experts’ testimony, then lead up to the plaintiff’s testimony.
“Because when your client gets up to testify first, she doesn’t have to talk for
hours about the surgeries and treatment because that’s already been done,”
Stempky said. “And secondly, the jury has a reason to care at that point.”
To present a fuller picture of Dorado’s life before and after the accident,
Christensen and Stempky went through her extensive collection of
photographs. The 35 photos selected for trial presentation included shots of
Dorado and her friends camping, vacationing, and riding four-wheelers.
“Those were the photos that we thought were absolutely essential to tell her
story,” Stempky said. “We focused as much as we could on communicating
with the jury visually. Telling somebody you like to ride a horse is a lot less
powerful than showing them a picture of you riding a horse.”
But Christensen and Stempky said that they were cautious to not overdo it,
taking only 10 minutes for the presentation and letting Dorado flesh out the
details.
“We didn’t linger on the photographs,” Stempky said. “We just showed the
photograph and asked our client where and when was this. We got feedback
from the jury that those photographs were very powerful for them.”
The lay witnesses included a co-worker, a neighbor, a longtime family friend,
and Dorado’s partner, all of whom explained how Dorado’s life had changed
after the accident. Stempky said they could read the jurors’ cues to the lay
witnesses’ testimony once Dorado left the stand.
“They really woke up and were responsive — nonverbally of course,”
Stempky said. “That’s when we could tell, or we hoped, that they were caring
about Vaylma, because until that point, all they’d heard is a lot of medical
testimony and not so much about her as an actual person.”
For example, a co-worker told how Dorado got strong reviews at her security
system job and how her skills — such as multitasking with calling 911 and
relaying medical emergencies when alarm subscribers called in — were
impaired by the brain injury.
Also, an across-the-street neighbor was able to describe how Dorado was
not able to take care of her house or herself because of her impairment.
Christensen said that once the jury understood how Dorado would never live
the same as before the accident, he presented a thorough breakdown of the
damages she deserved — from her surgeries to her loss of social enjoyment,
and from her career loss to her lifetime of dependence.
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