Plaintiff Verdict in Katrina Wind vs. Water Trial
A federal court jury in Gulfport rendered a plaintiff verdict yesterday in a Katrina wind vs. water trial against Lloyd's of London. Here is the verdict form, which I interpret to mean that the plaintiff recovers just over $2 million.
Judge Sul Ozerden was the trial judge. I will post more on this verdict next week.
Speaking of jury verdicts, I see that the March MS Jury Verdict Reporter notes a striking lack of cooperation from the Harrison Circuit Clerk's office.
Worth a shout-out on your blog, IMHO. Text below:
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Harrison Circuit Court in Gulfport and Biloxi is a mystery. The clerk knows nothing. The court administrator is too busy to help. And we remain unable to identify which civil cases are being tried in that county.
We’re still working on it.
But we were writing at this time to let our readers know a lack of jury verdicts from Harrison County is not for a lack of trying. Phone calls. E-mails. Trips to the courthouse. It’s a tough nut.
If you are able to help us identify cases or know of a trial in Harrison County, let us know. We’ll certainly follow up.
And if you know anyone in the court systems, judges, clerks, anyone, who knows something or might be helpful, we’d appreciate it if you’d bend their ear.
There really haven't been any jury verdict in civil cases since the insurance katrina case a couple months go Brad Pigott Plaintiff's counsel.
I will talk to our clerk and try to open a communication line.
It is most intriguing. When I know about a case with a number and a name, they can't find a file. It's in Biloxi. It's in Gulfport. It's in Biloxi. It's in storage.
And when I try to identify cases, the court administrator is too busy. The clerks know nothing.
I will say, I know (sort of) that Jim Smith received a $100,000 verdict in a truck versus a bucket truck verdict in G-Port. But I haven't seen the verdict. [It was in storage.]
And a case was in trial this week, but I'm not confident the record will be available.
This circumstance is unique in my considerable experience all over the country for the past 15 years. Can't find the verdicts. Can't find the file when you know about the verdicts. And it doesn't matter if you are there in person. They don't know anything and even if you want a file, . . ., sorry it is not available.
But I remain cheerful . . . optimistic . . .and persistent.
If anybody knows anything about the enigmatic Harrison County, let us know.
Shannon Ragland @ the MS Jury Verdict Reporter
Problems in Harrison County?
"Hollywood" would be the root cause including rumored shithouse deals for software that has never worked right.
sop
Judge Ozerden is known as a very conservative judge, you can bet this verdict will stand.
Shannon - I think the attorney you were referring to was Jim Davis in the bucket vs. truck accident in Gulfport, MS. Also, the jury found that bucket lift operator was 25% at fault and the truck driver to be 75% at fault. The jury found the truck driver to have 100k in damages. After the apportionment, judgment was entered for $25k. The case was tried in November 2010 before Judge Lisa Dodson in Gulfport, MS.