04/05/2026
So I tried a jury case in Marshall County this past week--admitted liability MVA with injuries, two plaintiffs with separate counsel, all consolidated into one trial. After four days of battle between experienced and capable trial lawyers, the jury came back with damage awards that were higher than the last offers made before trial, but lower than the last demands.
You'll see a lot of attorneys post on social media about their trial victories, and sometimes they can sound a little derisive of the other sides' pretrial settlement valuation and so forth. Well folks, this is not one of those posts!
This is a situation where both sides probably had it figured about right, and the jury found the middle ground. While this trial result isn't especially exciting, I think it's worth noting that our civil justice system still does work pretty well--at least it does in this part of the country.
Sure--you could argue this case could have been resolved at mediation and saved a lot of time and expense. But how will we ever know how to value cases if we don't take some to trial? We need juries, we need trials, and we need real trial lawyers--on both plaintiff and defense side--who aren't afraid to go into the courtroom and put their case to the test.
Or so it seems to me.
Mike
