When it comes to so-called “nuclear verdicts”—or “social inflation” in the insurance industry—hindsight is 20/20, as a survey of the highest payouts in motor vehicle accident and premises liability cases across the Southeast U.S. reflects.
When the defendant in one Georgia premises liability lawsuit dug its heels in on a $1 million settlement offer before trial, it probably wasn’t expecting an $81 million verdict from DeKalb County jurors, who sided with a U.S. Navy veteran who’d been robbed and shot outside a Kroger shopping center.
