BENTON – Jurors at a highway crash trial in U. S. district court deliberated for 48 minutes before reaching a verdict against plaintiff Teresa Neville of Madison County.
Her counsel Emory Reusch of Brown and Crouppen in St. Louis had complained prior to trial that biases of Americans skew toward civil defendants.
Neville sued Missouri resident Jeffrey Gershman at St. Clair County Circuit Court in 2021, claiming he caused a collision on Interstate 64 in St. Clair County in 2019.
She claimed she suffered neck and back injuries.
Gershman removed the complaint to district court on the basis of diverse citizenship.
As trial approached before Magistrate Judge Reona Daly, Reusch moved to let lawyers lead “voir dire” examination of jury prospects instead of leading it herself.
“A significant portion of the general population holds an inherent bias against fundamental principles of civil law,” he wrote.
He claimed a national study of more than 2,000 mock jurors found 32% viewed preponderance of evidence as a little too low for a standard of proof and 14% viewed it as way too low.
He claimed researchers who studied mock jurors in three civil cases based on actual cases found the mock jurors were largely blind to the role bias played in their decisions.
“How best to probe for these hidden biases that may influence a juror’s decision?” Reusch asked.
“Research demonstrates that questioning by an attorney, rather than a judge, offers the best way forward,” he answered.
Daly denied his motion.
She also denied his motions to bar testimony about Neville’s history of neck and back pain and testimony about her untruthfulness to medical providers.
Trial began on March 7 with selection of seven jurors and opening statements by Reusch and Gershman’s counsel Brian McChesney of St. Louis.
Gershman testified for 23 minutes as a witness for Neville.
Her treating physician Eric Sincoff testified by video deposition for about an hour and a half.
Neville testified for about two and a half hours on March 8 and so did Gershman’s expert, physician Donald DeGrange, by video deposition.
Jurors heard closing arguments on March 9, retired for deliberation at 10:12 a.m., and returned a verdict at 11 a.m.