On February 11, 2019, Tony Dewberry, a 60-year-old Georgia Department of Corrections employee, faced a life-altering motor vehicle wreck. While on his way out to supervise a road crew in Houston County, Georgia he was involved in a collision with another driver who disregarded a stop sign and struck Tony on the driver’s side of his vehicle.
Tony, initially seeking representation for both the car wreck compensation and workers’ compensation, encountered many challenges in his case. The first challenge was that the worker’s compensation insurer denied neck surgery that he needed to correct nerve damage caused by the car wreck. Our legal team successfully navigated the complexities of the workers’ compensation claim and we were able to get his 3-level neck fusion surgery approved. At the same time, we filed a lawsuit against the driver who injured Tony in the motor vehicle wreck.
During the litigation in 2020, it was revealed that the defendant driver worked for LifeBrite Laboratories, LLC, a medical laboratory company. The defendant driver was acting within the course and scope of employment when the wreck happened.
The second major challenge we faced during the litigation was that LifeBrite Laboratories, LLC denied that the defendant driver was their employee and that he was working on the day of the wreck. LifeBrite’s steadfast claim that their employee was an “independent contractor” was contradicted by substantial evidence, including employment agreements, W-2 forms, phone records, and witness testimony.
We also included direct negligence claims against LifeBrite Laboratories, LLC which included negligent hiring, retention, and supervision, supported by the defendant driver’s history of several prior at-fault wrecks, other citations for serious moving violations, and a commercial license disqualification. LifeBrite failed to adhere to its own company policies which required checking motor vehicle record of all drivers at the time of hire and prohibiting any and all cellphone use while driving. LifeBrite did not check their driver’s history when he was hired. Had it done so, his history would have revealed numerous serious driving infractions and a commercial license disqualification. The defendant driver was also on his cell phone at the time of the wreck in direct violation of company policy—a policy LifeBrite never told their employees about.
The trial took place in Gwinnett County State Court the week of October 30, 2023. The defense attempted a trial strategy to discredit Tony and minimize his injuries by suggesting Tony’s injuries were caused by aging and arthritis rather than the car wreck and portrayed him as a symptom magnifier. The defense’s strategy proved ineffective because we strategically presented medical records and witness testimony by Tony’s co-workers, friends, and spouse, who emphasized Tony’s lack of prior medical history and his active lifestyle prior to the wreck that completely changed once Tony was injured in the wreck.
Despite challenges we faced during the multi-year litigation battle and the 4-day jury trial, the jury ruled in favor of Tony, awarding a verdict of $715,000 which included recovery for Tony’s medical bills, lost wages, and his pain and suffering.
Kathy McArthur, Jordan Josey, and Jessica Edmonds tried the case together. The McArthur Law Firm also brought our excellent and experienced trial support team which included attorneys Quintesha Reynolds, Holly Stephens, Lindsey Macon, and one of our trial paralegals, Lyn Reeb-Williams.
This was an incredibly hard-fought team win and The McArthur Law Firm is very appreciative of Tony’s trust in our ability to achieve justice for him.
