Reyadh v. Trulite Glass: $277,966 for a Torn Rotator Cuff After a Low-Damage Truck Crash

The plaintiff was stopped at a red light in Nashville, waiting in traffic, when a commercial truck operated for Trulite Glass rolled forward and struck the back of his vehicle. The contact was light. It left only minor damage, the sort of fender tap that rarely becomes a claim file.

The plaintiff felt it in his shoulder. Soreness that he first reported after the crash did not fade, and doctors later diagnosed a torn rotator cuff, an injury to the band of muscles and tendons that hold the shoulder in place and let it rotate. A tear of that kind limits reaching and lifting, interferes with sleep, and frequently calls for surgery to repair. He had no obvious gash or broken bone to show a jury, only a shoulder that no longer worked the way it had.

Trulite did not seriously contest responsibility for the collision. The Davidson County jury was asked to decide damages only, which narrowed the trial to a single question: could a low-speed crash that barely marked the bumpers actually tear a rotator cuff? That is the argument insurers raise in minor-impact cases, that small property damage must mean a small injury. The firm had to prove cause, not just harm, that this specific crash and not age or ordinary wear produced the tear.

To press the point, the defense called a biomechanics expert, Brian Boggess, who testified that the forces in the collision were too low to account for the tear and asked the jury to discount the claimed damages. Blair P. Durham and Chaucey Fuller of Bart Durham Injury Law represented the plaintiff and tied the medical proof to the crash. Trevor L. Sharpe of Arnett Baker Draper & Hagood, of Knoxville, defended.

During deliberations, the jury sent out a question that drew the lawyers' attention. The jurors wanted to know whether they could average their individual estimates to settle on a figure. Tennessee law bars that shortcut, known as a quotient verdict, and Judge David Briley had instructed against it. He told the jury it could not average its estimates.

The jury returned a verdict of $277,966. Of that total, $165,000 was for non-economic damages such as pain and the loss of normal use of the shoulder, with the remainder covering medical expenses and other economic losses. The court entered judgment on the award.