JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Duval County jury awarded a 4.4 million dollar verdict to Catherine Hudnall, 28, on Friday for injuries she suffered in a 2013 crash, according to a news release.
Hudnall was represented by Morgan & Morgan attorneys Dustin Middleton, Rick Block, Corey Portnoy, and Joshua Taylor. Her attorneys refused the defense's highest pre-trial settlement of $100,000 and took the case to trial.
Hudnall was only 17 at the time of the crash. She was a passenger in her family's car heading north on Southside Boulevard when a box truck crossed into their lane and sideswiped them.
Hudnall suffered a disc herniation in her lower neck as well as a torn labrum and Bankart lesion in her left shoulder.
She sued her insurance company, State Farm, which denied at every turn that the two surgeries she endured were related to the injuries from the crash, according to the release.
“Our client is immensely relieved and vindicated now that her 10-year pursuit of justice is finally over,” said Morgan & Morgan attorney Dustin Middleton.
“Ten years of State Farm denying the severity of her injuries and her need for medical treatment culminated on Friday when they asked the jury to award her less than $50,000. Thankfully, the jury understood what Ms. Hudnall has been through and how her injuries have robbed her of her youth. This verdict should serve as a warning to insurance companies to take their customers’ claims seriously rather than denying the facts in a futile effort to protect their bottom line.”
