(l-r) Joseph C. Iannazzone, Gwinnett County State Court, Judge Steve C. Jones, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, GA, and Chief Judge Andrew Prather II, Muscogee County State Court. Photos: Catherine Lovett/John Disney/ALM/Handout (l-r) Joseph C. Iannazzone, Gwinnett County State Court, Judge Steve C. Jones, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, and Chief Judge Andrew Prather II, Muscogee County State Court. (Photos: Catherine Lovett/John Disney/ALM/Handout)
Lawyers looking to clench multimillion-dollar jury verdicts might stand a better chance if bringing a wrongful-death or medical-malpractice case in metro Atlanta's Gwinnett, DeKalb or Fulton counties. Over the past five years, juries in the counties' state and superior courts have awarded eight-figure or higher verdicts 16 times, according to Law.com's Verdict Search. Much like the venues in which these top verdicts are produced, repetition also exists among the judges presiding over these multimillion-dollar outcomes. Of the 39 jury verdicts awarded at or in excess of $10 million between Jan. 1, 2018 and April 10, 2023, at least three Georgia judges presided over 44% of the underlying trials.
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These Judges Presided Over Multiple Jury Trials Resulting in $10 Million or More Verdicts

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Judge Joseph C. Iannazzone

Gwinnett County leads the state with six jury verdicts returned at or in excess of $10 million in the past five years, per Law.com's Verdict Search. With two of the verdicts returned by Gwinnett County Superior Court juries, 66% of the multimillion-dollar outcomes occurred in Gwinnett County State Court. Of those four jury awards at or exceeding eight-figures, Judge Joseph C. Iannazzone presided over 75% of the trials. Iannazzone made headlines in August after jurors returned a $1.7 billion punitive award against Ford Motor Co. in the product liability case of Hill v. Ford. Ford announced its plans to appeal the verdict the following month. Prior to the pandemic, Iannazzone presided over two trials producing high-value verdicts. In May 2019, the Gwinnett County State Court judge oversaw Johnson v. Francis et al., a medical-malpractice matter that resulted in a $14 million jury verdict. The case later settled in August 2020 for a confidential amount following an award of additional legal fees. Meanwhile in November 2018, Iannazzone held a wrongful-death trial in Herrera v. Extended Stay America et al in which the jury awarded $46 million. Defendants satisfied the judgment as of Feb. 18, 2019, per Iannazzone's docket.

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Judge Steve C. Jones

Seated upon the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia bench, Judge Steve C. Jones presided over two 2022 trials that produced nine-figure jury verdicts. Jones kicked off the year signing off on a $127 million jury verdict awarded in the wrongful death and product liability case of Andrews et al v. Autoliv Japan, Ltd. in January 2022. The matter is currently on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Eight months later, Jones presided over Edwards v. Grubbs et al, an excessive force complaint against the city of Atlanta and one of its former police officers. The jury returned a $100 million verdict in the matter, but Jones reduced the award by $60 million the following month upon granting a renewed Rule 50 (b) Motion by the city of Atlanta to set aside the nine-figure jury verdict and enter judgment as a matter of law.

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Andrew Prather II

Like Jones, Prather presided over a pair of jury trials that resulted in two verdicts in excess of $10 million within the same year. In July 2019, the Muscogee County State Court chief judge held a trial in the wrongful-death case of Thornton v. Ralston GA LLC, et al that resulted in a $125 million verdict. The case later settled for a confidential amount. At more than double the initial jury award, Prather's courtroom garnered more spotlight a month later when jurors returned a $280 million verdict in Madere v. Greenwich Insurance Co., another wrongful death matter. But the verdict didn't remain intact as awarded. In accordance with Georgia law, Prather reduced $100 million awarded in punitive damages to $250,000, slashing the overall verdict to $180.3 million.   |

Jurors' Award Motivations

Cameron D. Hawkins, of the Law Office of Cameron Hawkins LLC in Atlanta, GA. Courtesy photo Cameron D. Hawkins, of the Law Office of Cameron Hawkins LLC in Atlanta. (Courtesy photo)
What motivates Georgia jurors to continue awarding multimillion-dollar verdicts varies depending on who's asked. Atlanta litigator Cameron D. Hawkins said Fulton County Superior Court jurors awarded more damages against a corporate defendant in a personal injury case to offset attorney's fees. "That was an interesting aspect that I've been hearing through other people who have tried cases. Now I've experienced that," Hawkins said. "[The jury] upped the award, so it wasn't just based on what they thought it was worth, or what they thought would compensate the plaintiff. They also added a little extra in there because they know attorneys are going to take a fee." But other attorneys, like Michael L. Bell of Lightfoot, Franklin & White in Birmingham, Alabama, attribute the eight-figure or larger outcomes to a societal desensitization to the value of money, coupled with enhanced emotional reactions to current social conditions. "There's no doubt that our modern juries are unhappy," Bell told the Daily Report in January. "There's a fair amount of distrust."
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