Dear Jennifer:

    As I reported to Tony Barone yesterday afternoon, after approximately one hour and ten minutes of deliberations, a jury of eight women returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Nationwide insured, Lori McGohan.  The jury was given two interrogatories:  (1) Do you find by a greater weight of the evidence that Lori McGohan was negligent; and (2) Do you find by a greater weight of the evidence that her negligence was the direct and proximate cause of the January 16, 2003 fire at the Dovetree Apartment Complex?  All eight of the jurors answered the first interrogatory "NO," so it was not even necessary for them to reach the issue of proximate cause.

    Needless to say, Lori and her parents were thrilled with this result, and my associate, Anne Keeton, who tried the case with me, and I were very pleased as well.  We have felt, all along, that the plaintiffs' theory of liability (that this apartment building was burned down by an extinguished cigarette) was nonsense.

    Our two cause and origin experts, Jim Hunter and Ralph Dolence, were excellent on the witness stand.  I believe they won the case for us.  Please pass that information along to Nationwide's property claims management because I know that they use Mssrs. Hunter and Dolence quite frequently in very serious claims.  I would not hesitate to use either or both of them again.  They are extremely knowledgeable and experienced, they have honest-to-goodness firefighting credentials, and their ability to communicate to jurors was some of the best I have ever seen.

    I also wanted to thank you for having the belief in us to allow us to take this case to trial.  As I said a long time ago, some cases cry out to be tried.  This was one of them.

    Thank you very much again.

The Greene Town Center
50 Chestnut Street Suite 300
Dayton, Ohio 45440
Phone: 937-427-8800
Fax: 937-427-8816
swdohiolaw.com