Michigan Court of Appeals Grants Last Minute Emergency Stay of Trial, Prompting a Significant Reduction of the Exposure to DMC’s Client

A Detroit area plaintiff law firm had repeatedly made outsized settlement demands in pursuit of a third-party truck accident lawsuit, fully intending to go to trial and seek a verdict well beyond the applicable insurance limits. Through a multi-faceted defense strategy aggressively implemented by Dickie McCamey shareholder Timothy S. Groustra and his transportation law team, the exposure to the trucking company was contained when the Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay at 4 p.m. on a Friday immediately halting the trial scheduled to begin the following Monday morning.

The Court of Appeals agreed to hear the Daubert challenge to plaintiff’s accident reconstruction expert, an expert widely used by plaintiff attorneys throughout southeast Michigan. Seeing the writing on the wall, plaintiff’s counsel (rather than tarnish the valued expert) subsequently agreed to forego trial in favor of binding arbitration with a term capping the exposure within the primary policy limits. Special credit goes to Michelle A. Thomas, Chair of the firm’s Appellate Group, in handling the appeal.

About Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C.
Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C. is a nationally-recognized law firm providing comprehensive legal expertise in a multitude of practice areas. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and founded more than 100 years ago, the firm serves industry-leading clients across the country from offices throughout the mid-Atlantic region in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, the Southwestern region of California, and the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado. For more information: 800-243-5412 or www.dmclaw.com.