Matthew Alford of Willis McKenzie in LaGrange is a medical malpractice defense attorney mainly, representing doctors insured by MagMutual. He has handled some personal injury cases for plaintiffs over his 18 years of practice, but all of them settled—until this month, when he tried a car wreck case in Troup County Superior Court before Judge Jack Kirby.

“This was the first plaintiff’s case I’ve taken to a jury,” he said.