Rafi Law Firm Wins $1.5M Gwinnett Verdict, Then Loses It After Attorney's Pre-Trial Social Media Posts
After trial: The judge vacated the verdict because of the plaintiff attorney's pre-trial social media posts, and the matter later settled.
Won by Rafi Law Firm.
A Gwinnett County jury awarded $1.5 million to a car-crash plaintiff represented by Mike Rafi and Alex Brown, but Judge Ronda S. Colvin vacated the verdict because Rafi had posted videos before trial discussing the case, prompting national legal-press coverage; the matter later settled.
What happened
In March 2023, a Gwinnett County State Court jury returned a $1.5 million verdict for a car-crash plaintiff represented by Mike Rafi and Alex Brown of Rafi Law Firm. The award included $1 million in compensatory damages and $512,000 in sanctions tied to the defense's litigation conduct. Defense counsel Pamela Newsom Lee and Brendan Thompson of Swift Currie McGhee and Hiers represented the defendant.
Before the trial began, Rafi had posted a series of videos to social media. In one, titled 'Three Lies We Tell Jurors,' he addressed three topics courts ordinarily prohibit mentioning to a jury: whether the defendant carries insurance, whether the defense's expert witnesses were paid by that insurer, and whether the defendant was arrested at the scene of the collision. A separate video referenced 'a car crash case I have going forward in Gwinnett County, Georgia,' providing enough detail to identify the proceeding.
After the verdict, Judge Ronda S. Colvin reviewed the posts and found they carried 'sufficient specificity to determine that he was beginning a jury trial in Gwinnett County.' She concluded the videos went 'well beyond just a matter of general public concern' and violated Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct 3.6, which restricts out-of-court statements lawyers may make about pending litigation. Although no juror reported seeing the videos, Colvin determined the risk to trial integrity was too great.
Invoking her broad authority to set aside results 'contrary to the principles of justice and equity,' Colvin vacated the jury's $1.5 million award and ordered a new trial. The ruling drew wide national coverage in legal trade publications, with commentators noting how candidly the videos had disclosed information normally kept from jurors.
According to a follow-up report by the Daily Report in September 2023, the case did not proceed to a second trial. The parties reached a settlement, resolving the dispute without a further jury determination. The settlement amount was not publicly disclosed.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Above the Law: 'Attorney Posts About Case On Social Media, So Judge Vacates The Jury Verdict' (Jul. 2023)·Archived copy
- 2.eDiscovery Today: 'Lawyer's Social Media Posts Wipe Out $1.5 Million Verdict' (Jun. 30, 2023)·Archived copy
- 3.Daily Report Online (Law.com): 'Lawyer's Social Media Posts Lead Court to Wipe Out $1.5M Verdict' (Jun. 29, 2023)·Archived copy
- 4.Daily Report Online (Law.com): 'New Settlement After Social Media Posts Wipe Out $1.5M Verdict' (Sep. 18, 2023)·Archived copy
More proven verdicts from Rafi Law Firm
All Rafi Law Firm proven verdicts →A federal jury awarded $3,858,548, including $2 million in punitive damages, after finding Eastwyck Village apartment complex liable for the death of tenant Tijuana Frazier, who was struck by a stray bullet that penetrated her bedroom wall while she slept.
Mike Rafi secured a $3.1 million settlement for the estate of Cynthia Louise Feijoo, a 61-year-old Albany, Georgia woman who died after her wheelchair was not properly secured in a medical transport van, with discovery exposing the transport company's false claim that she had been properly restrained.
A Fulton County jury awarded $1,718,367 in total damages after finding a southwest Atlanta convenience store 66% responsible for a shooting that left a sleeping passenger with an abdominal gunshot wound.
Mike Rafi secured a $1.6 million presuit settlement for a 69-year-old builder and jazz journalist who suffered a fractured skull and lasting neurological damage after an SUV driver reversed out of a driveway and struck him on a Decatur sidewalk while he was walking his dog.
Related car accident verdicts
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An Oakland County jury awarded $896.5 million to a young boy who was struck by a prototype test car during a student field trip at a Continental test track, reported as the largest verdict in Michigan history. The award is pre-appeal: post-trial motions are pending, Continental never made a settlement offer, and the amount could still be reduced.
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A Harris County jury awarded Mary Johnson $557 million against Union Pacific for a 2016 Houston train strike that cost her a leg, several fingers, and left her with a brain injury, a figure the trial court later cut and an appeals court reversed for a new trial.