D. Jordan Stephenson

A Jefferson Parish jury awarded Jasmine Raymond $1,582,399.87 after a company truck driver, distracted by his phone's GPS, rear-ended her on Interstate 10 in 2014 and drove her car into the vehicle ahead, sandwiching it between the two. The 24-year-old plaintiff had no prior back or neck problems before the crash and went through numerous procedures and surgeries over the next two years, ending with an August 2016 diagnosis of a recurrent disc herniation at L4-5 with right leg radiculopathy and a treating physician's opinion that she would need two lumbar fusion surgeries over her lifetime. After both sides rested, the judge granted a directed verdict on liability, so the twelve jurors decided only medical causation and the size of the award. The defendants appealed on evidentiary and damages grounds but withdrew the appeal the day before oral argument, and the Louisiana Fifth Circuit dismissed it without ruling, leaving the full verdict intact.