A trucking company offered nothing.
A jury saw it differently.

On Friday, August 5, 2022, a St. Charles County, Missouri jury agreed to hold a Kansas trucking company responsible for the death of a 19-year-old, returning a verdict of $20,025,000.

The young man, known to his family as "Junior", was 19 years old. On August 6, 2019, he was traveling in the passenger seat of the family vehicle on Highway 70 when the SUV was struck by a semi-truck. The crash caused catastrophic injuries that ultimately took his life.

The trucking company denied culpability in Junior's death. They offered zero dollars to settle the case, and proposed an alternative explanation for the young man's passing.

They blamed his mother, the SUV driver.

Three years after Junior's death, the trial began. Our team stood toe-to-toe with the defense in a St. Charles County courtroom.

The days were long. Expert testimony. Witness statements. Photo and video exhibits. Reconstruction of the crash. Cross-examination of the defense's experts. The case the firm had been preparing for three years was finally being told to twelve people who had never heard it before.

The jury worked well into the evening on the fifth and final day of trial.

At 11:00 PM, they rendered their verdict: $20,025,000.

We cannot say enough about the people of St. Charles who served and worked on this jury. They gave of themselves to arrive at this verdict and received nothing in return. It is incredibly selfless and humbling to watch.

Money will never replace the loss of a child. We are incredibly grateful to the jury, and we couldn't be happier for our clients, especially the mother who was blamed for her son's death for three years by the defense.

The first offer is rarely the real number. The defense offered $0. The jury awarded $20,025,000. The difference between those two numbers is not a function of the case's actual value. It is a function of whether the plaintiff's firm was willing to try the case to a verdict.

Co-counsel relationships work. The Schlapprizzi firm and Finney Injury Law represented different family members in the same case. Co-counsel arrangements like this one allow each family's interests to be represented independently while pooling resources, expertise, and trial preparation. We frequently work alongside other plaintiff firms on serious cases. The Schlapprizzis are extraordinary trial lawyers, and we were honored to share the courtroom with them.

Three years is a long time to prepare a case. It is also a long time to live with the defense telling a grieving mother her son's death was her fault. Trucking cases require patience and persistence. We do not settle cases that should be tried, and we do not try cases we have not prepared.