About Jarom Whitehead
Jarom Whitehead graduated from Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon. He specializes in personal injury, products liability, and insurance matters, primarily handling cases involving automobile and trucking accidents, defective products, stray voltage, medical malpractice, premises liability, insurance agent negligence, and insurance coverage and bad faith. His practice is devoted entirely to litigation, and he has resolved cases for clients at every stage of the legal process, including mediation, arbitration, trial, and appeal. Whitehead is a past president of the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association and serves on the board of directors for the American Association of Justice, both organizations dedicated to preserving access to justice. He is also active with Public Justice, the Injury Board, and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Proven verdicts and settlements
Shane Ackerschott hurt his back lifting freight in November 2014, then suffered a spinal cord injury and permanent paraplegia after an Idaho Falls urgent care clinic had him stand and walk for tests despite worsening neurological symptoms and never told him to restrict his movement. A Bonneville County jury awarded $7,958,113.67 in damages against Mountain View Hospital, LLC, doing business as RediCare. Idaho's cap on noneconomic damages cut the award by stipulation to $6,575,354.58. The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in 2020, rejecting RediCare's comparative-fault defense and declining to reach the Ackerschotts' constitutional challenge to the cap on a timeliness ground.
A nurse at St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center in Twin Falls, Idaho, removed a central venous catheter from patient Joyce Herrett while she sat upright in a wheelchair in December 2013, letting air enter her bloodstream and causing a stroke. St. Luke's admitted before trial that the nurse breached the standard of care, so a nine-day jury trial in Twin Falls County focused on whether her conduct was reckless and what Herrett's injuries were worth. The jury found the conduct reckless, which kept Idaho's cap on noneconomic damages from applying, and returned a verdict of $3,850,004.83; the parties later stipulated to a reduction reflecting medical expense adjustments, and the court entered an amended judgment of $3,775,864.21. The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the judgment on September 6, 2018, rejecting St. Luke's challenges to the jury instructions and the denial of a mistrial. Jarom A. Whitehead of Pedersen and Whitehead argued the case for the Herretts.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
