A car crash that ended in a $30 million verdict—which was subsequently tossed out by Georgia's appellate court—settled just before opening arguments in a retrial in a Fulton County courtroom last month.

But that settlement cranks up the burner under another legal wrangle with the defendant driver's insurer, which asked a federal court several years ago to absolve it of liability for defending the suit or paying the judgment. 

That litigation was on hold until the underlying lawsuit was resolved. On Nov. 26, Judge Richard Story of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia lifted the stay, writing that the parties had told him a settlement was reached.

No dismissal or other filing ending the Fulton case have been entered yet by State Court Judge Eric Richardson.

"All I can say is that the matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties," said attorney Ben Brodhead, who represents the plaintiff with Brodhead Law colleagues Ashley Fournet and John Nichols.  

Defense attorney Robert Shannon of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz said the settlement capped "very contentious, very hard-fought litigation."

"It's been more difficult than usual to navigate this case because of the federal case that was always in the background," said Shannon, whose team included firm colleagues Ciera Locklair and Logan Owens, along with Laurie Webb Daniel and Matthew Friedlander of Holland & Knight.

J. Wayne Pierce of Duluth's Pierce Dunkelberger represented a co-defendant, a garage that was cleared of liability in the first trial; he said he was not involved in the settlement discussions and that his client made no contribution toward it. 

Shannon said much of the credit for the settlement belonged to Miles Mediation and Arbitration mediator Rex Smith, who continued to try to hammer out a deal even as the trial began. 

"We were talking late at night, on weekends," Shannon said. "He was instrumental in bringing this together."  

The case began with a 2012 wreck that seriously injured plaintiff Luisa Cruz Mezquital's hand and arm. 

The defendant, Abdulmohsen Almassud, was driving a Jeep, and it was learned during discovery that he modified it for off-road use.

Almassud blamed a garage for botching its work on the Jeep, and it was added as a defendant. But a jury awarded $30.4 million against Almassud following a 2016 trial where the garage was not apportioned any liability.

The Georgia Court of Appeals threw out the verdict last year, ruling the jury should have been instructed that Almassud's claim that he was unaware of the hazardous condition of his vehicle could be raised as a defense for negligence per se.  

The Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear Almassud's appeal, and the retrial was underway when the parties announced that they'd resolved the case.  

Almassud's insurer, American Family Insurance—which funded his defense—filed a declaratory judgment action in Georgia's Northern District after the 2016 verdict arguing that it should not be responsible for his defense or for paying any judgment against him.

AmFam's arguments included assertions that Almassud did not cooperate with it and that he falsely told its investigator he was not driving Jeep off-road prior to the wreck. 

Almassud counterclaimed, accusing AmFam of failing to properly investigate the wreck and bad faith failure to settle within his policy limit when it had the chance.

Brodhead's firm also represents Mezquital in that action.

Almassud is represented by Slappey & Sadd partners Jay Sadd and Rich Dolder.

American Family is represented by Ryan Burke, Jessica Pardi and Seslee Smith of Morris, Manning & Martin and Edward Ruff III, Heather Plunkett, Robert Chemers and Michael Turiello of Pretzel & Stouffer in Chicago.

The dispute has been heated, including allegations of wrongdoing exchanged between AmFam and Mezquital's lawyers.

In a June 2018 order declining to sanction AmFam's lawyers, Story observed that the litigation has "been largely defined by a host of discovery disputes and been littered with motions to compel, motions for sanctions, and most recently, accusations of professional misconduct."

In ruling against the motions, Story said that "zealous advocacy has come precariously close to ethical misconduct. Each of the attorneys is, therefore, encouraged to step back and disassociate from their adversarial positions to ask, 'Was there something I should have done differently?' Hopefully, the answer is 'yes.'"

In September 2018, Story stayed discovery "until such time as the parties have briefed and the court has considered any potentially dispositive arguments supported by the current record or until a final resolution of the underlying case."

Motion practice continued and, in a September order on dueling summary judgment motions by AmFam and Almassud, Story ruled that AmFam did have a duty to defend Almassud in the Fulton trial but otherwise denied both parties' bids.

He also agreed that AmFam was entitled to seek attorney fees for additional discovery its lawyers engaged in to to get documents and testimony they should have had earlier.

AmFam has asked Story to award more than $340,000 in fees. Almassud's lawyers responded that the request is unreasonable and that the court should award no more than $5,500.

Story has not ruled on the fee motion yet.  

On Nov. 19, five days after the Fulton case settled, Almassud's lawyers filed a motion asking the court to realign the parties and have him named plaintiff and AmFam as defendant, arguing there is no longer any lawsuit to defend and there will never be a judgment against him, rendering the insurers' claims moot. 

The motion said the only remaining claims between those parties should be Almassud's counterclaims for breach of fiduciary duty, attorney fees and punitive damages. 

In his order lifting the stay, Story gave AmFam two weeks from the time the notice of dismissal is entered in the Fulton case to respond to Almassud's motion.

Almassud attorney Dolder said his client "is glad that the underlying lawsuit resolved and that now he can pursue his claims against American Family."

Regarding the federal litigation Mezquital's attorney, Brodhead, said given the Fulton suit's resolution, " Almassud's claims against AmFam would now be ripe for resolution." 

"AmFam definitely put its insured, Mr. Almassud, through a process that could have and should have been avoided," he said via email. "My client will not be involved in that action." 

But Brodhead added that Mezquital is considering fresh litigation "against AmFam and some of its attorneys and investigators for conduct committed against her during the pendency of the underlying case in state court."

AmFam's lawyer's did not respond to queries on Wednesday.