Automobile Accident Case
In a fatal trucking accident case involving the separation of semi tractors being transported on the highway "piggy back" style, Winston Briggs represented the widow and young son of a man killed in the accident. The trucking company and transporting company initially denied any responsibility for the accident. Mr. Briggs filed a federal lawsuit in Virginia against both companies. Both companies asserted multiple defenses, even contending the client's husband had caused the accident himself.
Winston Briggs took both companies head on in order to refute every defense they tried to assert to avoid responsibility for the accident. Mr. Briggs retained an accident reconstructionist, engineering experts, medical experts and secured the favorable testimony of several highway patrol officers. Ultimately, on the eve of trial, both companies finally admitted responsibility for the victim's death and agreed to pay damages for the same.
In a confidential settlement, the victim's widow received a substantial up-front lump sum payment plus monthly "death benefits" payments for the rest of her life. The responsible companies also agreed to pay the victim's son periodic payments throughout his life, culminating with a $1 million lump sum payment at age 30. It was Mr. Briggs' dedication and passion in pursuing the case, and his willingness to take the case to trial, that resulted in full and just compensation for the death of the client's loved one.
Wrongful Death Case
In a wrongful death medical malpractice case, Winston Briggs represented a man whose pregnant wife went to see her obstetrician, was given prenatal vitamins, and was told to return for a routine follow-up visit in a few weeks. Before she returned for her follow-up appointment, the wife collapsed and later died. Her death was a result of an ectopic ("tubal") pregnancy that ruptured, causing her to bleed to death. The obstetrician and his medical office denied any responsibility for the wife's death, claiming it was an unforeseeable act of God.
Mr. Briggs filed suit for the husband and, through appropriate medical evidence, was able to prove that the woman's death was foreseeable, could have been prevented through earlier recognition, and that the doctor should have recognized the wife's susceptibility to that medical problem when he examined her. It was further proven that, had the doctor performed the appropriate medical examination earlier, it would have saved her life. The case resulted in a multimillion dollar recovery for the client.
Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS) Case
During the course of his career, Winston Briggs has tried and won the same case twice before two different juries. The case involved a respiratory condition known as Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS) that resulted from exposure to a pesticide known as Talstar. Mr. Briggs tried the case for the first time in 2004 and, after an eight day trial the verdict was in favor of Mr. Briggs' client. Unhappy with the outcome, the opposing party appealed the verdict and the Georgia Court of Appeals set aside the jury's verdict and ordered a new trial based on its conclusion that the trial judge had improperly admitted inadmissible scientific evidence during the first trial.
Based on the Court of Appeals' ruling, Winston Briggs re-tried the case five years later. After a second eight day trial with a completely different jury, the verdict was in favor of Mr. Briggs' client again. Winning the same case involving multiple medical, chemical, and toxicological experts on two different occasions demonstrates Mr. Briggs' exceptional ability to successfully reach multiple different jurors in even the most complex of cases.
First Impression Case
Winston Briggs' willingness to take on and win difficult cases in hostile jurisdictions is demonstrated in one case where he brought suit and won a substantial jury verdict for the client against a large law firm-in the firm's own back yard. In that case, Mr. Briggs filed suit against the large law firm on the grounds that the firm had defrauded his client by taking and pursuing a case against the client despite having a conflict of interest.
The case was one of "first impression" in that no one had ever filed a similar lawsuit against a law firm on that basis in Georgia before. Naturally, the Defendant's law firm fought the case tooth and nail and refused to settle the case without trial. Mr. Briggs tried the case in the law firm's hometown before its hometown jury. Nonetheless, the jury found in Mr. Briggs' client's favor. The jury awarded the client hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensatory damages, over one hundred thousand dollars in attorney's fees, and assessed punitive damages against the law firm. This case demonstrates Mr. Briggs' ability to win first impression cases for his clients, even in hostile jurisdictions.
