In 2013, a retired orthodontist trips over a table cloth and falls while vacationing at the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach, possibly necessitating serious surgeries later on. A year later, a manufacturing associate residing in North Florida gets her hand caught in a conveyor belt and sustains permanent injuries that she claims prevent her from earning a living.

A cursory scan might register both of these scenarios as open-and-shut cases, just two more examples of bystanders harmed by the negligence of larger entities acting irresponsibly. And yet in December, Fort Lauderdale litigator Rory Jurman was able to persuade juries into siding with parties most would deem impossible to identify with.