$1 Million Verdict After Rear-End Crash Despite Minimal Car Damage and Treatment Gaps

In 2014, Ashli Friemon was rear-ended by Leonard Bain in St. Louis traffic. The collision left barely a scratch on her 2011 Toyota Prius, a detail that would become the centerpiece of the defense strategy. By the time the case reached trial five years later in St. Louis County Circuit Court, Bain's insurer, Safeco Insurance Company of Illinois, had prepared a straightforward argument: no meaningful damage to the car, no meaningful injury to the driver.

Friemon did not immediately seek emergency care. She felt soreness the next morning and began treatment with a chiropractor over the following two months. Then, because of gaps the defense would later highlight, she paused care for roughly a year before resuming. Approximately four years after the crash she underwent surgery for her neck and back. Those gaps and delays were exactly what the defense planned to use against her at trial.

Attorneys Joshua P. Myers and Aaron Vogel of Schultz and Myers built their case around a piece of medical evidence that predated all the gaps: an MRI taken shortly after the crash that showed edema at the injury site. Myers explained to the jury that edema, tissue swelling consistent with acute trauma, resolves within weeks of an injury. The presence of edema on an early scan meant the damage had to have occurred at or near the time of the collision, not from some later cause. That finding gave the jury an objective, time-stamped marker tying the crash to Friemon's injuries.

The defense pointed to social media photos showing Friemon attending events during the period she was not in active treatment. Judge Dean Waldemer directed a verdict for the plaintiff on the question of liability, leaving only damages for the jury to decide. Jurors sided with Friemon on that question as well, returning a $1 million award that included approximately $166,000 in special damages.

The verdict placed the case among Missouri's notable plaintiff recoveries for 2019, ranking 68th on Missouri Lawyers Weekly's annual plaintiff-win list for the year. No appeal or post-trial reduction has been reported in available coverage.