© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
In his first 30 years of practice, trial lawyer Brad Kizzia almost always represented defendants. But last week, he secured a win representing a plaintiff – and it was the biggest win of his career.
A Parker County jury last Friday awarded $5.2 million to Kizzia’s client, Jerry Wall, a man in his thirties who lost a leg after a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver on Interstate 20.
Not only is the case a significant win for Kizzia; it is also believed to be one of the largest verdicts in Parker County’s history.
Kizzia said he was not surprised by the large chunk of money the jury awarded his client.
“Jerry definitely deserved it and he needed it… to compensate him for what he’s been through and will go through the rest of his life,” Kizzia said.
All $5.2 million will go toward actual damages, since Wall withdrew his punitive damages request before the weeklong trial ended.
Fort Worth defense attorney Bruce Moon of Brackett & Ellis declined to comment on whether his client will appeal the verdict, but he did say matters weren’t “final yet.” What’s next is to figure out what his client’s options are, he said.
Wall’s case was Kizzia’s first jury trial since joining Dallas firm Brown Fox Kizzia & Johnson in 2011. It was also one of the few personal injury cases that he tried on behalf of the plaintiff. At his prior firm, Strasburger & Price, almost all of his complex commercial litigation and personal injury practices involved him defending corporations and parties.
At Brown Fox, most of Kizzia’s personal injury work is for the plaintiff. The party varies for his commercial litigation practice.
“I always felt that a true trial lawyer can represent both sides in the case,“ he said. “I find the job of representing injured parties very fulfilling.”
In the fall of 2010, 31-year-old Jerry Wall was making his morning commute to his job in Weatherford, Texas at Simms Lumber Company – approximately 13 miles from his home in Aledo.
Vernelle Ingram, a woman in her eighties, was driving on US-180, the access road Wall was about to exit on. She had just picked up breakfast for her grandchildren and was planning to stop by her CPA’s office.
She made a turn too early, and was suddenly driving the wrong way on the same exit ramp Wall was driving on his motorcycle. Ingram collided with him head-on. She was not injured.
Wall, on the other hand, was in critical condition. He lost a leg. He spent a month in the hospital. After his discharge, he spent a month bedridden both at his mother’s father’s houses. He got around with a wheelchair and a walker. Eventually he had a prosthesis installed in place of his missing leg. To this day, he has no recollection of the accident due to a sustained head injury.
At the scene of the accident, the investigating police officer determined Ms. Ingram was likely not a safe driver. He notified the Texas Department of Public Safety and suggested the elderly woman take a driving test. Ingram failed the test for four consecutive weeks. She finally passed on the fifth try, Kizzia said, since by that time the DPS was “tired of dealing with her.”
Though it is uncertain what effects the jury outcome will have on the law, Kizzia said he hopes it will motivate jury members from the trial to write to the Texas Legislature about whether the DPS is “doing a good enough job” to keep dangerous drivers off the road.
“I think this case demonstrates a gap in the law,” Kizzia said. “The legislature needs to look at this.”
Also involved on the plaintiff’s side was Bill Ucherek II of Juneau, Boll, Stacey & Ucherek in Addison. Fellow Brackett & Ellis attorney Laura Docker worked with Moon to represent Ingram.
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