Adam Linkner and Oscar Rodriguez Obtain Record-Setting $4.32 Million Jury Verdict Against WMATA
Hooper Hathaway attorneys Adam Linkner and Oscar Rodriguez, along with local counsel Michael Hannon, obtained a record-setting $4.32 million jury verdict in favor of their client against the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). On Christmas day 2015, the client was leaving his work as the executive pastry chef of the Hay-Adams hotel when he was struck by a WMATA bus. The client was transferred to the hospital with multiple injuries, the most series being a severely fractured wrist. Despite three surgeries over the following years, the client continued to have significant wrist pain and impaired mobility in his wrist.
The client, through Hooper Hathaway, filed his lawsuit against WMATA. After a four day trial the jury returned a verdict in favor of the client in the amount of $4,321,258.21, which the jury broke down as follows: $3,230,000 in emotional distress; $900,000 in lost future earnings; $31,662 in lost past earnings, and; $159,596.21 in medical expenses. This verdict was more than double the largest motor-vehicle related verdict in D.C. Superior Court for at least the last 10 years. The verdict has been reported in the media, such as by the Washington Times.
This is the second multi-million dollar jury verdict that Hooper Hathaway has obtained for its clients this year. Earlier this year Angela Jackson and Adam Linkner obtained a $15.1 million verdict in favor of their client in a federal RICO lawsuit.