#14 (tie) – $1 million « Virginia Lawyers Weekly

#14 (tie) – $1 million

By Sarah Rodriguez
Published: January 14, 2009

Cowan v. Hayne

Type of Case: Wrongful death, traffic crash

Court: Goochland County Circuit Court

Attorneys: Jim Neale, Meghan Cloud, Charlottesville

Summary: The case stemmed from a head-on collision in which one driver was proceeding the wrong way on westbound Interstate 64. Both drivers, who were the only occupants of the vehicles, were killed. Three eyewitnesses identified a driver who was intoxicated as having the right of way, and his estate filed suit.

The estate of the driver of the other vehicle, who was sober at the time of the crash, filed a counterclaim, and the jury awarded $1 million on the counterclaim. No insurance was available to satisfy the judgment, but the estate of the prevailing driver already had obtained $600,000 from two uninsured motorist vehicle policies by the time the case was tried.

“Our client was far more interested in clearing her husband’s name” than in attempting to recover from the estate of the intoxicated driver, said Jim Neale, the attorney for the estate that prevailed at trial.