Bill Lewis and Amanda Klein persuaded a Holt County, Missouri jury to find unanimously in favor of Defendant Jessica Blackman, the driver in a single vehicle accident, in a wrongful death action brought by the decedent’s mother, Plaintiff Cyndi Meier.
Plaintiff alleged that on October 22, 2005 at approximately 1:20 am, Defendant Jessica Blackman was negligent as the driver in a single vehicle accident in which the decedent, Ashton Meier, was a back seat passenger. Defendant Blackman was traveling down a gravel road when her vehicle went off the north side of the road into a harvested cornfield, overturning as it crested a field terrace. The vehicle came to rest on its side. Four additional passengers were inside the vehicle at the time of the accident. No one was wearing a seatbelt. Both the decedent and the front seat passenger were ejected from the vehicle.
Plaintiff Meier was the 911 dispatcher when Defendant Blackman made the 911 call after the accident. The call was played to the jury.
Plaintiff’s attorney asked for $750,000 in closing for Plaintiff’s damages as a result of Ashton Meier’s death. The jury returned a unanimous verdict assessing no fault to Defendant Jessica Blackman.
