Police dash-cam video leads to $12M verdict against State Farm client

Disputed liability

Atlanta plaintiff attorney Nick Protentis teamed with Protentis Law colleague Matthew Bonham and appellate attorney Naveen Ramachandrappa of Bondurant Mixson & Elmore to represent Kyle Zachary Rowland.

They brought an automotive tort complaint against defendant Kyle Trevor McGovern, a State Farm insurance client.

Plaintiff counsel argued Rowland was injured in a January 2022 collision in Griffin caused when McGovern turned left into the plaintiff's path.

"Mr. Rowland was traveling eastbound on State Route 16, where the speed limit is 65 mph, approaching the intersection at High Falls Road. At that same time, Defendant Kyle McGovern was driving his vehicle west on State Route 16, and he was stopped at a traffic light waiting to turn left onto High Falls Road," plaintiff counsel claimed in a consolidated pre-trial order. "Despite seeing Mr. Rowland approaching, and despite Mr. McGovern knowing that he lacked the right-of-way, Mr. McGovern suddenly chose to turn left directly in front of Rowland’s oncoming vehicle."

Plaintiff counsel contended the defendant's "conscious decision" to turn left in front of Rowland's vehicle resulted in "a catastrophic wreck" and nearly $400,000 in subsequent medical expenses.

"The collision caused Mr. Rowland’s vehicle to leave the roadway, flip upside-down, and crash into a ditch next to a nearby utility pole," plaintiff counsel briefed. "As a proximate result of Defendant’s tortious acts or omissions, Kyle Rowland sustained serious personal injuries, endured conscious pain and suffering, incurred substantial medical expenses, experienced mental anguish, experienced loss of the enjoyment of life, and suffered other damages as will be proven at trial. These injuries and damages are continuing, some of which are likely to be permanent in nature."

However, McGovern had a different recollection of the moments leading to the collision.

As defense counsel for McGovern, Matthew Hurst of Waldon Adelman Castilla McNamara & Prout teamed with Atlanta colleagues Hilliard V. Castilla and Travis Meyer, as well as Matthew Friedlander of Webb Daniel Friedlander to dispute liability. The defense team contended that Rowland caused the collision with McGovern by running a red light.

"At the subject intersection, Mr. McGovern came to a stop and then began turning left to travel on High Falls Road," defense counsel briefed in a consolidated pre-trial order. "Plaintiff disregarded the red light governing his lane and illegally entered the intersection, violently striking Mr. McGovern’s vehicle. Plaintiff was traveling at a dangerous and recklessly high rate of speed, greatly in excess of the speed limit when he struck Mr. McGovern’s vehicle. Plaintiff’s vehicle struck the passenger-side of Mr. McGovern's vehicle with such great speed that the impact caused disabling damage to both vehicles and caused both vehicles to leave the roadway, eventually coming to rest in a nearby ditch."

According to the defendant's insurer, the parties struck a pre-litigation policy limits settlement agreement that did not materialize. Marietta-based State Farm Insurance Corporate Communications Manager Justin Tomczak told the Daily Report that State Farm had "actively worked to settle for policy limits on behalf of [McGovern] throughout this matter."

"The plaintiff’s attorneys are attempting to avoid a binding and enforceable settlement agreement based on a typographical error in an attempt to seek millions of additional dollars beyond the policy limits," Tomczak said.

When asked about resolution attempts, Protentis told the Daily Report plaintiff counsel "made several offers to settle the case," one of which "including an offer to settle within the policy limits before trial."

"[The] defendant’s insurer negligently failed to accept that offer and then compounded its negligence by rejecting other offers to settle during the case, including offers for $2 million, $4 million and $5 million," Protentis said.

With opposing counsel still at odds over liability, the matter advanced to a jury trial in Spalding County State Court on Dec. 16, 2024, but not before plaintiff counsel armed themselves with insight from focus groups.

"Based on feedback from these focus groups, we had a good sense going into trial that jurors would be skeptical of Defendant McGovern’s account of the crash, and would also be skeptical of his expert, Seth Behrens," Protentis said. "The focus groups provided tremendous insight and helped shape our trial strategy."

'Undermined his credibility'

Gathered before Judge Josh W. Thacker, plaintiff counsel told the Daily Report they centered their trial strategy around establishing liability against the defendant driver. Plaintiff counsel first took advantage of witness testimony uncovered while conducting discovery.

"[W]e were able to track down an eyewitness, who was not listed on the police report but who we could hear giving his information to law enforcement on dash-camera video from Georgia State Patrol. The witness proved difficult to reach, but we were able to figure out where he worked and sent a subpoena to his employer for a deposition at a certain time and date," Protentis said. "He gave very helpful and straightforward testimony that proved Mr. Rowland had the right of way at the time of the crash."

In hopes of convincing the jury that Rowland had not been traveling between 88 and 96 mph through the intersection at the time of the crash, as claimed by Behrens, plaintiff counsel opted to leverage the Arizona-based defense expert's testimony to diminish his credibility as an accident reconstructionist during cross-examination.

In addition to informing the jury that Behrens had been paid $60,000 by the defense team, Protentis said the plaintiff team highlighted that the defense expert "had only visited the subject intersection once, that he did not inspect the vehicles and was unable to offer any opinion on who had the right of way at the time of the crash."

"Mr. Behrens was unable to offer any opinion on that question, despite testifying at trial to be an expert that 'puts the pieces of the puzzle together after a crash,'" Protentis said. "We used this testimony against him during cross-examination and in closing."

Plaintiff counsel also drew the jury's attention to dash-camera and drone footage taken by Behrens to challenge McGovern's claim that the defendant had a green turn arrow at the time of the collision.

"For defendant’s story to be true, Mr. Rowland would have blown through a red light that was red for nearly half a minute, and there would have likely been several cars stopped at the stop line at that red light, as shown in Mr. Behrens' videos, which would have made it impossible for Mr. Rowland to blast through this intersection on a red light," Protentis said. "The fact that Mr. Behrens couldn’t offer any opinions on the right of way, despite all the research and videos he claimed to have done of the intersection, further undermined his credibility with the jury."

According to Protentis, plaintiff counsel made its case for damages by presenting witnesses who provided "compelling testimony" about how Rowland's injuries from the crash and subsequent chronic pain had impacted his life, including his ability to be "the main caretaker to his 8-month-old son."

$12 million verdict

After five days of trial and one hour of deliberations, the Spalding County State Court jury returned a $12 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff. With liability assessed solely against the defendant, plaintiff counsel applauded the outcome as a victory for their client. Plaintiff counsel noted that the eight-figure outcome is "exclusive of prejudgment interest under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-14 and attorney fees and expenses under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-68(b)."

"When the judge read the verdict and [we] heard that the jury had filled out the verdict form exactly as Plaintiff’s counsel had suggested they should in closing, the plaintiff’s team was overjoyed for Mr. Rowland and his family," Protentis said. "Mr. Rowland, his ... wife, mother and sister and our trial team were all overwhelmed with emotion in that moment."

For Protentis, the outcome reiterated the importance of conducting focus groups. The favorable eight-figure verdict also signaled the importance of retrieving law enforcement video from the crash scene.

"The dash-camera video from Georgia State Patrol was over 2 hours long. It was 30 minutes into that video when we heard an eyewitness describing how he saw the crash, yet this witness was not listed in the police report," Protentis said. "The takeaway there is always get the law enforcement video from the crash scene and review it carefully, because there may be valuable evidence in those videos that does not make it into the official police report."

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