After a three-week jury trial, a King County (Kent, WA) jury returned a $14,751,205.36 verdict in favor of Dearie Law Group clients Brandon and Erin O’Neall. Throughout the legal process, Dearie Law Group Trial Attorneys Ray Dearie and Drew Lombardi served as counsel to the O’Nealls.
On May 6, 2022, Brandon O’Neall was involved in a trucking accident. Mr. O’Neall was driving his work-issued garbage truck on State Route-18 when he was hit by another company’s truck. The force of the collision pushed Mr. O’Neall’s truck off the highway and into a concrete Department of Transportation light pole, which caved in the cab and dashboard of Mr. O’Neall’s truck. As a result, Mr. O’Neall’s femur was forced backwards through his pelvis, leaving him with a dislocated hip, a fractured pelvis, and a minor knee fracture. Mr. O’Neall was pinned in the cab until first responders arrived and used the jaws of life to extract him.
It was later discovered that the hip dislocation and fragments from the pelvis fracture damaged Mr. O’Neall’s sciatic nerve. Despite these injuries, Mr. O’Neall refused to resign himself to a sedentary lifestyle, and worked extremely hard to get healthy enough to return to work towards providing for his family.
The driver that hit Mr. O’Neall and the driver’s company denied liability for causing the crash until shortly before trial. During trial, they vigorously disputed the severity of Mr. and Mrs. O’Neall’s injuries and damages, and asked the jury to award the O’Nealls $900,000 total. After a three-week trial in King County Superior Court, the jury found that Mr. O’Neall sustained $13,851,205.36 in past and future damages, and that Mrs. O’Neall sustained $900,000 in past and future damages.
Founding Attorney Ray Dearie and Attorney Drew Lombardi both thank the members of the jury for their hard work in this case, which provided a reasonable and just verdict based on the facts and medical realities.