Claims handlers take note: Juries have grown generous for personal injury plaintiffs in Campbell County.
The county has seen six straight plaintiffs’ verdicts, Circuit Judge John T. Cook told the Lynchburg Bar Association Wednesday. The total of the verdicts was $2.2 million, he said. That’s an average of more than $366,000 per claim.
Asked if he thought the streak represented a trend, Cook said simply, “I think it’s a message.” He noted that, based on some of the offers from insurance companies, the plaintiffs were not risking much to try their cases.
One lawyer offered a compliment for Cook’s practice of projecting jury instructions on the courtroom screen for jurors to see as the judge reads the instructions at the end of trial. “I do it because I think think it’s an important part of the case,” Cook said. “I want them to get it.”
By Peter Vieth
