Jury Returns $568,875 Verdict in Russell v. Brumley, Ranked Among Texas Top 100 in 2015

A Texas motorist named Russell filed a personal injury lawsuit against Brumley following a car accident. With a pretrial resolution out of reach, the case went to a jury in 2015. Russell was represented throughout by Hank Stout and Graham Sutliff, the founding partners of Sutliff & Stout, PLLC, in Houston.

Car accident cases that reach a Texas jury make up a small fraction of the personal injury claims filed each year in the state. Most settle before trial. Disputes that go to verdict typically involve genuine disagreements, whether about who caused the crash, the extent of the injuries, or the dollar value of the resulting losses. In Russell v. Brumley, the plaintiff chose to have a jury decide those questions.

Texas personal injury trials require the plaintiff's attorneys to build a complete damages record for the jury. Past and future medical expenses, physical pain and mental anguish, and lost earning capacity are among the categories Texas law permits. Counsel must connect each claimed loss to the specific collision through medical records, expert testimony, and other evidence. Stout and Sutliff constructed that record for Russell, presenting the evidence of the plaintiff's injuries and their connection to Brumley's conduct at the wheel.

Both attorneys hold board certification in personal injury trial law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a designation extended to fewer than two percent of licensed Texas lawyers. The firm they built together focuses on car and truck accident litigation in the Houston metropolitan area.

The jury found in Russell's favor and returned a verdict of $568,875. No appellate decision or post-trial order modifying the award appears in the public record.

TopVerdict, an editorial publisher that compiles and ranks civil jury verdicts by state and practice area each year, placed the result at number 77 on its 2015 list of the top 100 Texas jury verdicts. The ranking covers all civil practice areas and all Texas courts, state and federal. A position of 77 out of the full population of Texas civil jury verdicts returned in calendar year 2015 places the result above the outcome in the substantial majority of personal injury trials brought in the state's courts that year.