Bethany Schneider (from left) with plaintiff Christine Montague and fellow attorney Steven Newton. (Courtesy photo)

A Fulton County jury on Wednesday awarded more than $1 million to a woman rear-ended in Sandy Springs when another vehicle unexpectedly stopped in front of her.

Attorneys for the plaintiff, who suffered neck injuries requiring surgery, said the defense ignored an offer to settle the case for $200,000 last year. They will seek attorney fees under Georgia's offer of judgment statute, which allows a party whose offer to settle was rejected and who later prevails by 25% or more than was demanded to seek fees from the time of the spurned offer.

Attorney Steven Newton of Fayetteville's Richard D. Hobbs & Associates said he also sent a demand for the defendant's $250,000 policy limit last Friday, but there was no response.

The highest offer to settle from the defendant driver's insurer, State Farm, was $20,000.

Newton and co-counsel Bethany Schneider of Schneider Injury Law said there were a couple of tricky angles to the case, including a prior wreck that injured their client and the unrelated death of the defendant driver during the pendency of the case.

"We had a big concern about how a jury would feel about awarding against the estate," Schneider said.

There was also a short-lived mistrial when the issue of insurance was raised before the jury the of trial, requiring that panel to be dismissed and another brought in, they said.

Downey & Cleveland partner W. Curtis Anderson defended the case with firm colleague James Cannella Jr.

Cannella said they were considering all their options including an appeal.

"We have already ordered the transcript," he said via email.

According to the lawyers and court filings, the accident happened in 2014 when Christine Montague was preparing to turn off the exit ramp from Ga. 400 onto Northridge Road.

Montague hit the brakes when a truck in front of her stopped suddenly, but a Ford Explorer driven by Melanie Norvell was unable to stop in time and slammed into her Toyota Avalon.

Montague, now 53, suffered head, neck and back injuries, and her Toyota was a total loss.

She underwent a variety of treatments and finally had disk fusion surgery in 2016, ultimately accruing nearly $85,000 in medical bills.

Montague first filed a complaint in Forsyth County, where Norvell lived, but it was transferred to Fulton County State Court in 2017. Norvell died in 2018, and her estate was substituted as the defendant.

The defense claimed the wreck was caused by the unknown truck driver who stopped in front of Montague. The defense filed a notice of nonparty fault, but Judge Fred Eady granted her lawyers' motion for a directed verdict dismissing that argument at trial.

"The defendant has the burden of proving the third party is the proximate cause for all of the plaintiffs injuries; it can't be 'may be' liable," Newton said.

During a three-day trial, Newton and Schneider said the main defense centered on assertions that Montague suffered a neck injury in a head-on collision in 2007—a fact she did not initially disclose to her lawyers.

"That was a huge issue to overcome, but it actually turned out to be good for our case, because the medical records showed she didn't have these injuries back then," Schneider said.

At closing, Montague's lawyers suggested damages of $847,000 to $2.4 million.

After about 2½ hours of deliberation, the panel awarded $1,051,800 on Wednesday evening, including $964,000 in past medical expenses and past and future pain and suffering, and $87,000 in future medical expenses.

Newton said the jury was eager to leave, but he spoke to one juror who said they were not convinced by defense claims that Montague tried to cover up her medical history.

Defense lawyer Anderson "did a good job poking holes, but we were able to go back and put the records in context," he said. "There were arguments that there were misrepresentations, but the jury saw through that."

Newton and Schneider hailed the defense's handling of what they said was a lot of conflicting evidence.

"They tried a really good case, going through and finding inconsistencies," said Schneider. "It sure didn't feel like a slam-dunk at trial."