The Great Trials Podcast

This week on the podcast we interview Chris Hamilton of Hamilton Wingo (https://hamiltonwingo.com/).   Rate and review GTP on iTunes: Click Here to Rate and Review.   View/Download Trial Documents   Guest Bio: Chris Hamilton Chris Hamilton is one of the country’s leading high-stakes trial lawyers. He has won record-setting verdicts and settlements in catastrophic personal injury cases, wrongful death lawsuits, and complex business disputes. Chris chooses to work on cases where he knows he can make a game-changing difference by relying on his methodical preparation and truly extraordinary trial skills. He takes great pride when lawyers and clients trust him to handle the most important cases of their careers or lives. In 2022, Chris won a historic $7.37 billion jury verdict in Dallas, Texas, which was the year’s largest verdict nationwide and 4th largest personal injury award in U.S. history against a corporation. His nearly two decades of experience taking on negligence, fraud, and abuse by big businesses includes Chris’ work alongside the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in a ground-breaking federal False Claims Act case. The $25 million settlement in 2021 directly against a private equity firm and a group of healthcare industry executives is the largest of its kind. Chris has been featured in Courtroom View Network’s (CVN) list of the Most Impressive Trials of 2019, and his multibillion-dollar victory in 2022 topped CVN’s list of the Most Impressive Plaintiffs Verdicts of 2022. The Dallas Business Journal recognized Chris for winning Texas’ largest personal injury verdict in 2014, ranked as the nation’s 17th largest. In addition, he was recognized by Top Verdict in 2016 for Texas’ 9th largest personal injury verdict. Verdict Search noted him in 2011 for one of the state’s Top 10 and Top 100 verdicts in the U.S. Chris has been repeatedly recognized for his expertise in personal injury trials by other attorneys in the annual list of The Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine, The Best Lawyers in America, Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, and National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Attorneys, and is a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and the Leader’s Forum for the American Association for Justice. Chris’ cases have been featured in numerous media outlets, including Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN, Texas Lawyer, Dallas Business Journal, Law360, The Dallas Morning News, Texas Lawbook, The Houston Chronicle, and The Austin-American Statesman, and numerous local television reports and print news stories nationwide. Chris earned the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year honor in 2017 from the American Association for Justice for representing hundreds of people unlawfully detained at DFW Airport during the travel ban. Chris, a fluent Spanish speaker, is a current member of the Board of Directors for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Read Full Bio   Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services - LegalTechService.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Harris Lowry Manton LLP - hlmlawfirm.com   Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2

This week Steve and Yvonne interview Cody Berne of Stoll Berne (https://stollberne.com/).   Rate and review GTP on iTunes: Click Here to Rate and Review.   View/Download Trial Documents   Guest Bio: Cody Berne Cody Berne is an advocate for his clients in cases large and small. He is prepared to go to trial if that is what the case requires. Cody has been first chair at over 40 trials. He leads Stoll Berne’s team in the class action lawsuit against PacifiCorp for starting fires across Oregon during the Labor Day 2020 storm. He was co-lead trial counsel in an 8-week trial where the jury found PacifiCorp liable to a class of several thousand people for gross negligence, punitive damages, and other claims. The jury awarded on average approximately $5 million to each of the 17-named plaintiffs. He was also co-lead trial counsel in the first and second damages-only jury trials on behalf of 19 more class members. The juries awarded several million dollars per person. The trials and litigation, including the work by Cody and his colleagues at Stoll Berne, have been featured in national and local news, including NPR, the Washington Post, Oregonlive, the New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, and the AP. Along with representing wildfire survivors and their families, Cody advises investors who lost money because of fraud and other misconduct and plaintiffs in class actions. His class action experience includes securities, consumer, ERISA, food labeling, and fire cases. Cody’s practice also includes commercial and complex litigation. He is an active member of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association. Cody previously worked as a deputy district attorney at the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. Before that, Cody represented individuals and businesses in cases involving investment fraud and a wide range of business disputes at a large Northwest firm. He received the Haglund Award in 2016 from the Multnomah Bar Association. He was selected as a Future Star in Benchmark Litigation and also named in The Best Lawyers in America and Oregon Super Lawyers. During law school, Cody interned for U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller and U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Delaney. Elected to Order of the Coif, he received the Clinical Legal Education Association Award and a Witkin Award. Cody also represented clients as a law student at the Civil Rights Clinic and Prison Law Clinic and earned a Public Service Certificate. Before law school, Cody served as a police officer with the Portland Police Bureau and as a wildland firefighter across the West. Read Full Bio     Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services - LegalTechService.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Harris Lowry Manton LLP - hlmlawfirm.com   Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2

This week, we’re replaying a classic episode where Steve and Yvonne interview Chris Hamilton of Hamilton Wingo LLP (https://hamiltonwingo.com/).   Rate and review GTP on iTunes: Click Here to Rate and Review.   View/Download Trial Documents   Case Details: Discussing a landmark premises liability case, trial lawyer and Hamilton Wingo LLP partner Chris Hamilton explains how he held McDonald's responsible for ongoing lack of security and secured justice for the families of Texas A&M college students Denton Ward and Lauren Crisp, who died following a late-night trip to a McDonald's in College Station, Texas. In February 2012, Denton Ward and Lauren Crisp, along with Samantha Bean and another friend, went to McDonald's, where Denton Ward was violently assaulted by Marcus Jones and a mob of other attackers. Lauren Crisp and Samantha Bean carried a bleeding Denton Ward to his SUV in an attempt to get him to the hospital. The driver, Samantha Bean, ran a red light and collided with another car. Denton Ward was killed and Lauren Crisp, who was unrestrained and tending to Denton Ward's injuries, was also killed. Despite the defense's attempts to shift focus away from McDonald's ongoing lack of concern for customer safety at a restaurant location with a history of late-night violence and to blame Samantha Bean for reckless driving, a Brazos County, Texas jury assigned 97 percent of the responsibility to McDonald's and returned a verdict of $27,000,000 in damages.   Guest Bio: Chris Hamilton Chris Hamilton has established himself as one of the leading high-stakes trial lawyers in the United States. Hamilton has a recent track record of verdicts and settlements that are setting the mark in both the personal injury arena and in complex business disputes. For example, Hamilton was recently featured in Courtroom View Network’s (CVN) list of Most Impressive Trials of 2019. In 2014, Hamilton was recognized by the Dallas Business Journal as having the largest jury verdict in Texas for a personal injury case and the 17th largest jury verdict in the United States. In 2016, Hamilton was recognized by Top Verdict as having the ninth-largest personal injury verdict in Texas. Hamilton was recognized in 2011 by Verdict Search as having one of the top 10 verdicts in Texas and top 100 verdicts in the United States. Hamilton was selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America for 2019, the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America for 2020, and is a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Read Full Bio   Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services - LegalTechService.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Harris Lowry Manton LLP - hlmlawfirm.com   Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2

This week, we’re replaying a classic episode where Steve and Yvonne interview Shane Lazenby of Lazenby Law Group (https://lazlawgroup.com/).   Rate and review GTP on iTunes: Click Here to Rate and Review.   View/Download Trial Documents   Case Details: Former defense attorney and U.S. Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps veteran Shane Lazenby of Lazenby Law Group explains how he secured justice in the wrongful death of Kip Holland, a 50-year-old intellectually disabled pedestrian who was hit by a weaving, out-of-control tractor-trailer in Gainesville, Georgia. At trial, Shane Lazenby demonstrated that James Harper, the 76-year-old tractor-trailer driver who died before the case went to trial, lied on his Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration medical exam, took prescription narcotics four times a day, performed breathing treatments for COPD in his trailer and was regularly admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. In 2020, a Gainesville, Georgia jury returned a verdict in favor of Kip Holland's grieving family and awarded $21,029,363 in damages, litigation expenses, and attorney's fees.   Guest Bio: Shane Lazenby Shane Lazenby is the founder and managing member of Lazenby Law Group. After more than a decade of defending those accused of negligence in personal injury cases, Shane decided to reverse course and help the victims of serious injuries. With unparalleled compassion and limitless commitment, Shane quickly learned how much more rewarding and uplifting service as a victim’s advocate can be. Shane now focuses his practice on helping the victims of catastrophic personal injury and the families whose loved ones have passed as a result of another's negligence. Shane received his law degree in 1999 at the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. While at Mercer, Shane was a member of the Moot Court Board and the Mercer Law Review where he served as the Eleventh Circuit Survey Editor. Shane also received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, with a minor in Latin, from Mercer in 1994. Following law school, Shane returned to the United States Army, where he served as a Judge Advocate with the 82d Airborne Division. Shane’s service included duties as the Regimental Judge Advocate for the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, where he obtained a 100% conviction rate in the most active military justice jurisdiction in the United States Army. Shane was also selected to be the first Judge Advocate from the 82d Airborne Division to deploy to the Global War on Terrorism as counsel to the Commander of the 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Shane was then selected to be the Operational Law Attorney for the 82d Airborne Division Commander in Bagram, Afghanistan, where he served until returning home. In December 2010, Shane retired from the Georgia Army National Guard after 21 years of total military service with the Georgia National Guard, United States Army, and Army Reserve. Shane joined the military in 1989, first serving as a combat medical specialist. In 1993 Shane graduated from Officer’s Candidate School and was commissioned as an Infantry Officer. Shane served as an Infantry Platoon Leader, Signal Platoon Leader, and Operations Officer with a Ranger-led, Airborne Long Range Surveillance Unit. He then returned to the active Army for his tour of duty as a Judge Advocate before transitioning into the Army Reserve. In the Army Reserve, Shane continued service as a Judge Advocate, but was then selected for Command as the Headquarters and Headquarters Company Commander for the 335th Signal Command. Thereafter, Shane transitioned back into the Georgia Army National Guard where he returned to his Infantry roots and became the Executive Officer of the 3-108th Cavalry Squadron; his retirement assignment. Shane’s service awards include the coveted Ranger tab, the Master Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge, and the Bronze Star for service in

This week, Steve and Yvonne interview Richard Mitchell of Mitchell & Shapiro LLP (https://www.mitchellshapiro.com/).   Rate and review GTP on iTunes: Click Here to Rate and Review.   View/Download Trial Documents   Case Details: Richard Mitchell, a partner at Mitchell & Shapiro LLP, explains how he secured justice for Elizabeth Dickinson, who sustained a painful pressure ulcer due to the negligence of Landmark Hospital's staff, who did not rotate her position regularly on her hospital bed. Transferred from Grady Hospital in Atlanta after receiving treatment for car crash-related injuries, Elizabeth was admitted to Landmark Hospital with a stable stage 2 sacral ulcer, which quickly escalated to stage 4. The pressure ulcer took a full year to heal, but Elizabeth's activities continue to be limited due to the poor wound care she received. Despite the defense's attempts to blame Landmark's new medical records system, Elizabeth's daughter and even Elizabeth herself for her injuries, a Gwinnett County, Georgia jury returned a verdict of $1,300,000 in damages.    Guest Bio: Richard Mitchell Richard C. Mitchell is a partner with Mitchell & Shapiro LLP. He concentrates on personal injury matters, including medical malpractice, trucking and auto wrecks, and aviation crashes. In December of 2003 and 2014, he was voted by his peers in Georgia Trend magazine as one of Georgia’s “Legal Elite” in the personal injury area. From 2003-2019 the readers of Atlanta Magazine voted him a “Georgia Super Lawyer” in personal injury litigation. He is regarded as one of the most experienced personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers in the Atlanta, Georgia area and has received the highest possible professional rating, Martindale-Hubble's AV Preeminent rating, consecutively for 20 years. After clerking for 2 United States District Court judges in Atlanta, Richard C. Mitchell was an associate and partner with the major law firm Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy for over 14 years before leaving to start his own firm in 1997. During that time, he successfully represented numerous manufacturers and insurers in product liability cases, including manufacturers of automobiles, aircraft and aircraft components, forklifts, woodworking machinery, chemicals, conveyor belts, and electric limit switches. He left the large firm in order to concentrate on representing injured individuals. Mr. Mitchell’s years of experience defending clients in personal injury cases and working with insurance companies have given him a unique insight into the civil litigation process and an ability to work with defendants to obtain favorable results for his clients. He is a successful veteran of more than 100 trials, arbitrations, and mediations; he, therefore, has the experience and skills to achieve his clients’ goals before a judge and jury in the event a settlement cannot be reached. He has obtained several  Georgia Top Ten Verdicts in medical malpractice.  As one of the finest personal injury lawyers in Atlanta, Georgia, Richard C. Mitchell has been a frequent speaker at seminars and the author of chapters in several treatises and legal articles. Richard is also currently serving as an adjunct professor at Georgia State University School of Law. Read Full Bio   Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services - LegalTechService.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Harris Lowry Manton LLP - hlmlawfirm.com   Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2