News

Defense verdict obtained in W. Va. insurance suit

Patrick S. Casey and Sandra M. Chapman of the Wheeling, W. Va., office obtained a defense verdict in April 2007, for an insured of the client, an insurance company, in the Circuit Court of Ohio County, West Virginia. The case arose out of a violent, rollover single car accident on Interstate 70 that resulted in an ejection and fatality. The central issue of the trial was the identity of the driver. Client’s insured was sued by the estate of the decedent that claimed he was driving while intoxicated. A third party bad faith action was also asserted and bifurcated pending the outcome of the underlying case. The trial involved expert testimony from accident reconstructionists and biomechanical engineers. The jury found that the Client's insured was not driving the motor vehicle and returned a defense verdict in less than 30 minutes. Unless post-trial activity is successful, the defense verdict will also serve to extinguish the bad faith case against the Client.