A Hall County family was awarded $11.5 million in a personal injury case verdict handed down in Hall County State Court.
The DUI case involved a pick-up truck striking a family in the crosswalk in the parking lot of the Gainesville Walmart store in June 2013. All three were struck by the vehicle, with the mother suffering a traumatic brain injury, the daughter suffering severe emotional distress and the stepfather suffering multiple physical injuries, according to a press statement from the attorneys representing the family. The whole incident was also captured by the store's security cameras.
The trial spanned two days and the jury deliberated for five minutes, the statement says, before the jury awarded $5 million in punitive damages, as well as $4 million in compensatory damages to the mother, $1.5 million to the daughter and $1 million to the stepfather.
The family was represented by Mark Alexander and Dan Sammons.
The award was one of the largest personal injury awards in Hall County State Court history.
Mark Alexander of Stewart, Melvin & Frost joined WDUN's Afternoon News Wrap Thursday for more details.
