VALPARAISO | Northwest Indiana injury attorney Kenneth J. Allen tops the list of attorneys in the state who have won million-dollar verdicts for their clients, according to the recently released 2009 Indiana Jury Verdict Reporter.
Kenneth J. Allen & Associates was the only law firm in Indiana with more than one multimillion-dollar jury verdict in 2009. The firm had two -- $5.22 million for a woman who suffered traumatic brain injury when here car was crushed by a tractor trailer that had encroached on her lane, and $5 million for the family of a boy who choked to death on a piece of corn dog in a school cafeteria.
There were only eight other million-dollar verdicts in the state during 2009.
According to the Verdict Reporter, Allen also tops the list for the decade with almost $150 million in judgments between 2000 and 2009. Allen had 14 verdicts of at least $1 million during the decade. The plaintiff attorneys with the next greatest number during the decade are David Conover (of Allen's office) and David Holub, of Hammond, with three. Holub's last one was in 2004.
In 2008, Allen won one of the largest jury verdicts ever in Indiana when a Lake County jury awarded $48 million to a Porter County steelworker who fell from a ladder and suffered spinal injuries that left him a paraplegic.
Allen believes the Verdict Reporter contains information that consumers need to know. Not only does the report show which attorneys are successful in obtaining jury verdicts, but those who are successful also get insurance companies to pay substantially more in settlements because they don't want to risk an even larger jury verdict.
Perhaps most important, Allen said, is that the verdicts encourage safety.
"Large jury verdicts are important for public safety," he said.
"By setting a high cost for careless behavior, substantial verdicts encourage companies to act safely and prevent harm. If it becomes cheaper for businesses to act negligently and pay whatever verdicts result rather than incur the expense needed for safety and preventative measures, then all of us are in danger."
