NJ Appeals Court Reinstates Jury's $2 Million Award to Victim of Pedestrian Knockdown

In an unusual move, an appeals court reinstated a jury's award which had been reduced from $2 million to $600,000, to a pedestrian who was knocked down by a passing truck, causing him to sustain severe personal injuries, including traumatic brain injuries and several fractures that left him in a coma for over one month.

As anyone who has experience selecting juries for trial will tell you, what is not unusual or suprising is that this aspect of the story - the reinstatement of the 7-figure verdict made the news. Nor, for that matter, would it have surprised anyone had the news reported on the jury's verdict; what would have been surprising was if the news had covered the judge's reduction of the award by nearly 2/3 - a fact of trial life that often confronts personal injury lawyers, but rarely - if ever - makes the headlines.