Recent Ruling: Kristen Johnson, Partner, Provides Perspective on Florida Billion-Dollar Verdict Reality

A Florida jury has set a new record for nuclear verdicts against a trucking company. On August 24, 2021, a jury determined that two trucking companies were responsible for a fatality involving an 18-year-old and awarded the plaintiffs $1 billion total. More than 90% of the verdict is against AJD, a dissolved trucking company that stopped participating in the defense of the case prior to the trial. On June 28, 2021, the court entered a default against AJD on liability. The jury then determined that AJD was responsible for $900 million in punitive damages.

Kristen Johnson, partner at Taylor & Associates, discussed this verdict in a recent FreightWaves article noting that, “The $900 million punitive damage verdict is essentially only meaningful for the plaintiff and lawyer in the sense that they were told by the jury that this was egregious and we want to recognize that with this award.”

Kristen went on further to add that the reality of trying to collect is that “there is nothing there.” Without knowing what happened with AJD’s insurer, Johnson said it is likely that the insurer paid off the maximum amount it covered soon after the accident, “and then they are out.”

“It continues to build the reputation that the plaintiff’s lawyers are trying to build about trucking, that it is a bunch of bad guys that have these distracted guys on the road,” she said.

Read the full FreightWaves article here.