With New Trial, Morgan & Morgan’s Louis DeFreitas, Jr. Recovers Nearly $270K for Incarcerated Auto Accident Victim

(PRWEB) November 16, 2013

After an unsuccessful 2011 trial against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and its Florida subsidiary, Morgan & Morgan’s Louis DeFreitas, Jr. has recovered nearly $270,000 for an auto accident victim incarcerated at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution. The plaintiff, who was not in prison during the first trial, had to be transported almost seven hours across Florida from Santa Rosa County to attend court in Osceola County.

In January 2010, DeFreitas’ client, Lewis L. Peterson, was involved in a rear-end collision in which he sustained serious spinal injuries and vehicle damage, according to court records. After his insurer allegedly refused to acknowledge his injuries resulted from his 2010 car accident, court records show that Peterson sued both State Farm and its Florida subsidiary, State Farm Florida Insurance Company, seeking damages to help cover, among other costs, extensive medical bills and property damage.

According to court documents, the jury ruled against Peterson in his 2011 case, an outcome DeFreitas attributes to a bias the jurors formed upon learning of his client’s criminal record. Court records indicate that presiding Judge Jeffrey F. Fleming, however, felt the jury’s ruling went against the manifest weight of evidence in the plaintiff’s favor and granted DeFreitas’ motion for a new trial.

With the help of a “masterful” assist in court from fellow Morgan & Morgan attorney Vincent D’Assaro$269,419.99 for Peterson, a sum that includes past medical bills, court documents show.

“He exposed their bias by highlighting inconsistencies in their testimony and illuminating their financial bias,” DeFreitas said of D’Assaro’s work on the case. “The jury gave our client all of his past [medical damages], which is a testament to the job Vinny did.”

A graduate of the Tulane University Law School, DeFreitas focuses his practice with Morgan & Morgan in the areas of personal injury and wrongful death litigation.

For more information on Louis DeFreitas, Jr. and the attorneys in Morgan & Morgan’s Orlando office, please visit http://www.forthepeople.com/ today.

About Morgan & Morgan

Morgan & Morgan is one of the largest exclusively plaintiffs’ law firms in the country with 16 offices throughout Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and New York. The firm handles cases nationally involving product liability, personal injury, medical malpractice, consumer class action, and securities fraud, as well as complex litigation against drug and medical device manufacturers. Visit Morgan & Morgan online at http://www.forthepeople.com/ for a free case evaluation and information about your legal rights.

   •  Case No. 2010 CA-4312-AN, Circuit Court of the 9th Judicial Circuit In and For Osceola County, Florida.

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