While Minnesota Litigator touted a CLE on negotiation and settlement this past week in recognition of the fact that “90-99%” of litigators’ lives are not in trial, I was in the middle of a four-day jury trial before the Hon. Thomas M. Neuville in Faribault, Minnesota (Rice County).
Christina M. Weber of Wilford & Geske and Seth Leventhal of LEVENTHAL pllc represented two co-defendants against the claims of three defendants who asked a jury for judgment for $750,000. Weber led the defense and our hard work over about 1.5 years of litigation and long hours of trial preparation paid off.
The jury found for plaintiffs, in the end, but only for a combined total of $577. Several post-trial issues remain to be decided and resolved but the seven-member jury listened closely through-out the four-day trial, they deliberated carefully, and reached a unanimous decision after about five hours of deliberation. Whether “justice was done” is in the eyes of the beholder, but I believe it was, and am pleased with the jury verdict.