Significant Cases

Here are several cases handled by John Lefler where the outcomes not only benefited the client, but also benefited all citizens by improving the law and by forcing insurance companies and the government to compensate citizens fairly and do what is right:


FIBROMYALGIA

Woman developed fibromyalgia and depression, resulting in medical expenses, loss of earnings, and loss of the capacity to earn a living as a result of physical trauma suffered in an automobile accident. The trial court refused to allow evidence of:

  1. The fibromyalgia
  2. Expert evidence that the fibromyalgia was caused by the accident
  3. Her lost earnings and loss of earning capacity.

The Nebraska Supreme Court stated at case no. S-04-990 (2006): “(W)e conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in not allowing the jury to determine the weight given to (the treating doctor’s) opinion testimony on the cause of (the client’s) fibromyalgia.” “(T)he trial court’s exclusion of the (medical expert’s) testimony was also an abuse of discretion.” “We remand for further consideration the question of the admissibility of this (lost earnings and loss of earning capacity) testimony….”

Nebraska was the second state in the country to hold that: Whether or not fibromyalgia was caused by the physical trauma of an automobile accident was for the jury to determine. After the Nebraska Supreme Court’s ruling, both insurance companies elected to pay their full policy limits rather than go to trial and risk a jury verdict in excess of their limits.  


PERMANENT HAND AND ARM INJURIES

Man suffered serious hand and arm injuries at his job when he got caught in a plastic winding machine. The jury returned a verdict of damages in favor of the man and against the manufacturer of the machine, but the trial court granted the company’s motion for a new trial unless the man elected to accept an amount as dictated by the trial court, an amount substantially less than the jury’s verdict. Instead, the man appealed whereafter the California Court of Appeals ruled at case no. 2 Civ. No. 67645: “In the case at bench, there was ample evidence supporting the jury verdict, and our reversal automatically reinstates the judgment obtained by the Plaintiff (the man) below (from the jury).”

The man had made an offer to settle before trial which the company and its insurer rejected. The jury’s verdict was twice the amount of the man’s offer to settle. The California Court of Appeals ruled for the first time in California that a new pre-judgment interest law, which did not become law until after the trial, would be enforced back to the time of the man’s offer to settle before trial. As a result, when the insurance company finally paid almost two years after the trial, it paid not only on the principal amount of the jury verdict but also interest at the rate of 10% per year back to the date of the rejected offer to settle.  


PERMANENT LOW BACK INJURY

Man sued the United States of America for low back injuries suffered in an automobile accident as a result of the negligence of a federal employee. The United States District Court Judge in Lincoln entered judgment for the man after a trial, including damages for past lost wages, future wage loss, past and future medical expenses, property damage to the man’s vehicle, and other damages, including pain and suffering. United States District Court for the District of Nebraska (2000) 4:99CV3213 and 4:99CV3261  


INSURANCE COMPANY DENIES COVERAGE

Man sued insurance company when it refused to defend him or provide him with an attorney. The man had been sued in a personal injury lawsuit by a police officer who alleged that the man was at fault for injuries the officer suffered outside a bar where the man was working as a bouncer. The insurance company had sold a policy to the owner of the bar. The Gage County District Court at case no. CI07-340 (2008) entered a judgment against the insurance company ordering it to provide a defense to the man and further ordering that the insurance company reimburse the man for the attorney’s fees he incurred during the time that the insurance company refused to defend him.  


PERMANENT ARM NERVE INJURY: MEDIA COVERAGE

Lincoln Journal Star May 28, 1993: “A nursing student who won a jury award (in Douglas County District Court) of (approximatly eleven times the amount of her medical bills)"… has two years of nursing school left at the University of Nebraska. She said there is some question about whether she will ever be able to hold a nursing job.” Her “…doctor testified that (she) had a permanent, partial impairment to her right arm that causes pain.” The doctor hired by the defendant bad driver’s insurance company, on the other hand, “claimed her arm was normal following the accident and she was capable of doing anything, or if there was an injury it was a minimal abnormality." The insurance company paid the judgment in full.  


SAMPLING OF TRIAL VERDICTS AND APPEALS COURT RULINGS, AND INFORMATION REGARDING SETTLEMENTS

If you are interested in seeing a larger sampling of John Lefler’s court experience before juries, trial judges, and appeals courts, and also information regarding the settlement process, just call or contact us and we will promptly provide this information to you.