Brunswick Man Gets Less from Jury than Last Offer

On Tuesday, June 7, 2011, Judge Kimbler's courtroom was the site of a jury trial in the case of Collin Willey v. Kalli Fleming. Back in November of 2007, Ms. Fleming's car struck Mr. Willey's car in the rear while he was stopped on South Carpenter Road in Brunswick. The collision caused a chain reaction and drove Mr. Willey's car into the rear of the car that was stopped in front of him. Mr. Willey claimed that he injured his back and neck and that he would eventually need to have some discs in his back fused.

While Ms. Fleming admitted that she was negligent, she disputed the amount of damages that Mr. Willey claimed he sustained. At trial Mr. Willey presented medical bills totaling over $10,000.00. A doctor called on behalf of Mr. Willey gave the opinion that a future operation to fuse the discs in his back would run between $15,000 to $50,000.

All the evidence in the trial was heard in one day. On Wednesday the jurors came back to hear closing arguments and receive the jury instructions. Following the arguments and instructions, the jury retired. The jury deliberated for approximately one hour before returning a verdict that was approximately half of the insurance company's last offer.