Fulton County Jury Awards $2,116 in Motor Vehicle Collision

A motor vehicle collision occurred on Christmas Eve in Fulton County, Georgia, when a defendant driver attempted a left turn across the path of an oncoming vehicle into a business driveway. The airbags deployed in the plaintiff's vehicle, where the plaintiff was a front-seat passenger. The plaintiff subsequently filed a lawsuit, alleging negligence by the defendant and claiming facial and eye injuries.

The plaintiff, a 49-year-old female, asserted that she sustained a traumatically-induced cataract causing legal blindness in her left eye, which would require future surgical removal. Additionally, she claimed multiple facial contusions and corneal abrasions. The plaintiff sought $1,475 for past medical expenses and $10,600 for future medical expenses. While the defendant did not seriously contest liability for the collision, the case proceeded on the issues of proximate cause and damages. The defendant argued that the plaintiff's vision restrictions had not significantly changed due to the collision and questioned why the plaintiff had not undergone surgery in the two years following the incident if her vision was dramatically affected.

A Fulton County State Court jury returned a $2,116 verdict in favor of the plaintiff. The awarded amount was significantly lower than the total damages claimed by the plaintiff, particularly for future medical expenses, suggesting the jury did not fully attribute the more severe, long-term eye injury or its associated treatment costs as proximately caused by the collision or found the necessity of immediate surgery unproven.