A tractor trailer driver barreled down the roads of Mountain View, Missouri, hurtling through the sleepy rural town. He paid no attention to the laws of the road, driving above the speed limit. This carelessness extended to traffic lights, too: he went straight through a red light at one intersection. At the same time, a family on their way home from celebrating their child’s concert watched the light turn green and rightfully started through the intersection. Their celebration was cut tragically short as the tractor-trailer T-boned the family’s vehicle, grievously wounding its passengers. The mother, Virginia, suffered the worst of the injuries.
Virginia was transported to the hospital by emergency services in critical condition. The collision had not only given her a traumatic brain injury but caused as many as 25 fractures throughout her body. On the way to the hospital, Virginia’s pain led her to remove her tracheostomy tube inadvertently. The accidental extubation starved her brain of oxygen and gave her severe hypoxic brain damage.
About a month after the accident, a friend of the family contacted Chandler Gregg, a personal injury attorney at the firm Strong Law, P.C. With years of experience handling catastrophic injury, the family friend implored Chandler to take on the case. After learning the details of Virginia’s accident, Chandler decided he would represent her and her family.
Chandler began to compile footage of the accident, info about the truck driver, and medical reports to build his case. He discovered that the driver was operating on falsified logs, adding insult to injury. Next, Chandler obtained a surveillance video from a McDonald’s on the other side of the intersection that showed the full accident. The video quickly proved liability, while police body cam footage of the accident’s aftermath solidified the issue of immediate damages. Chandler worried about what a potential jury would look like for this case. He was aware jurors in rural, conservative areas like Mountain View were also traditional with their ideas of compensation. He knew the Defense would likely latch onto that fact. Thus, Chandler worked to adequately impress the severity of Virginia’s situation on the Defense or a potential jury.
Chandler wanted to illustrate not only the collision’s immediate impact on Virginia and her family but the lifelong consequences of the crash, too. He sought out an orthopedic surgeon, neurologist, and neuroscientist to fully grasp the catastrophic scope of Virginia’s injuries. Chandler also consulted a life care planner to learn what the future likely held for Virginia. With this knowledge, Chandler knew all he needed was a visual to illustrate the extent of Virginia’s suffering perfectly. The attorney then approached DK Global for the demonstrative. He wanted to present Virginia’s injuries in a visceral yet accurate way that appealed to a potential juror’s good sense and humanity.
The video began with an animated depiction of the Plaintiff’s collapsed lungs. It then zoomed in and highlighted each of the 25 cumulative fractures across the victim’s chest, ribs, back, and spine. Next, the animation detailed the process of each surgical intervention needed to save the Plaintiff’s life: first, the placement of eight screws into her spine and two corresponding metal rods that held her shattered back together. The final sequence of the animation displayed the installation of eight long metal plates onto the victim’s broken ribs.
The Defense came to the first mediation with a meager initial offer hovering near the million-dollar mark. Chandler was confident in his case and was more than prepared to take it to trial should the other side refuse to take Virginia’s lifelong injuries seriously. About a month before the trial began, Chandler gave the Defense one last “take it or leave it” demand. Just one week before trial, the Defense accepted Chandler’s demand and finally settled the case for $16,000,000 in favor of his client.
Chandler Gregg is a personal injury attorney at Strong Law, P.C., a prestigious law firm based in Springfield, Missouri. He graduated top of his class from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. Chandler then went on to clerk for the firm before working his way up to shareholder at Strong Law, P.C., in 2008. He has received several accolades for his work, such as Lawyer of the Year in Products Liability and Personal Injury from Best Lawyers. Chandler has been published in the Missouri Law Review for his work on medical malpractice law and serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Governors for the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys.
