PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE INSIDE PAID Finding Hidden Evidence PERMIT #450 pages 1-2 JACKSONVILLE, FL SUVs Safer After Lawsuits P ROFESSIONAL A SSOCIATION page 3 This is the twenty third periodic Recoveries Transform Lives Profile s& A TTORNEYS AT L AW page 4 report of Pajcic & Pajcic Log Truck Menace One Independent Drive, Suite 1900 pages 5-6 THIS SPECIAL 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OUTLINES SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS AT PAJCIC & PAJCIC FROM 1974 TO TODAY Jacksonville, Florida 32202 Triumph or Tragedy Precedents Ph: (904) 358-8881 page 7 Fax: (904) 354-1180 “Pajcic Families” page 7 PAJCIC & PAJCIC 40 TH Email: [email protected] $4 Million for Education www.pajcic.com page 8 Habijax House ANNIVERSARY Edition page 8 William S. Burns, Jr. Timeline of Service Gary and Steve Pajcic started Pajcic & Pajcic in 1974, the year Steve was elected to the Florida pages 1-8 Lee T. Griffin Legislature representing the south half of Duval County. Gary came from the state attorney’s Robert J. Link office, and Steve from the city’s largest law firm at the time. Pajcic & Pajcic got its first Curry G. Pajcic multi-million dollar verdict in Panama City in 1985 and has since handled more than Curtis S. Pajcic 8,000 personal injury and wrongful death cases. Gary died unexpectedly seven years Gary C. Pajcic (1947-2006) ago, but his brother Steve has carried on the practice with three of Gary’s sons and Michael S. Pajcic his own. The firm includes seven other attorneys, all of whom except the youngest Seth A. Pajcic have attained the AV Stephen J. Pajcic, III Raymond P. Reid, Jr. Preeminent Peer Review Pajcic & Pajcic is one of the few firms on Benjamin E. Richard Rating by Martindale-Hubbell. Martindale-Hubbell’s list of Top Ranked Firms Thomas F. Slater in the Southeastern United States to receive William A. Bald, of Counsel the perfect 5.0 rating in client satisfaction. Every case is unique, the results in one case do not necessarily indicate the value of another case, and most cases result in lower recovery. It should not be assumed that your case will have as beneficial a result. Recoveries are before deduction for attorneys’ fees and expenses. Verdicts are before reduction for comparative negligence, setoffs, and high-low agreements. Safety changes can be the result of many factors other than the cases mentioned. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Profile s& Precedents Profile s& Precedents – FINDING HIDDEN EVIDENCE THE KEY TO $10 MILLION AWARDS – It was only after the families of Jane Doe and John Doe hired Pajcic & Pajcic that the full truth became known and fair recoveries could be obtained of more than THE TRUTH ABOUT $11 million for Jane and nearly $10 million for John’s widow and children. THE TRUCK DRIVER IN JOHN’S CASE THE SECRET TO JANE’S CASE Eight years after Jane Doe’s crash and The accident left Jane Doe face down and barely one mile south on I-95, John Doe was killed breathing in the middle of I-95. The crash report put all in a fiery crash when a southbound tractor the blame on Jane because her car had swerved across trailer hit the concrete divider and catapulted four lanes of traffic in front of oncoming tractor trailers. into the northbound lane on top of John’s Jane could not dispute the report because she was pick-up. The truck driver blamed a phantom comatose for several weeks and never regained any vehicle and the investigating officers found him memory of the crash. credible and unimpaired. Pajcic & Pajcic could not believe that Jane Doe, The truth about the driver who killed John a 36-year old mother of two, could be as reckless as the Doe proved to be just as shocking as the fiery crash report concluded. The legal battle to unravel the After the case was over Jane sent Pajcic & Pajcic Pajcic & Pajcic also secured crash itself. While neither the accident investigator enigma of how and why this tragedy occurred and to get a thank you that touched the hearts of all who worked products liability recoveries – nor the trucking company who hired the driver justice for Jane involved eight different lawsuits, nine on the case: found anything suspicious about the truck driver, mediations, one jury trial and seven different settlements. one because Jane’s seat and Jane was ejected Pajcic & Pajcic’s investigation proved that he was seatbelt system allowed her to be through the back ejected through a back window, window into the a stay-up-all-night, sleep-all-day crack cocaine The major recoveries came when Pajcic & Pajcic and a second one because the middle of I-95. addict who had fallen asleep at the wheel in the met with a traffic homicide investigator. Buried in armored car had a blind spot middle of I-95 in downtown Jacksonville. his field notes was a witness statement with a in its passenger’s side The trucking company could easily have suspicious denial of involvement: view mirror. found out about the driver’s prior problems The recoveries with drugs and driving, but, instead of checking have given the driver’s record, the terminal manager had Jane financial actually fabricated a background check and security and the made up a road test. ability to pay Angered by the egregious for the help she conduct, John ’s widow needs every day. Jane had the Most importantly, courage to follow The whole accident sequence had been started by despite her profound Pajcic & Pajcic’s the armored car suddenly cutting in front of Jane and impairments, Jane has recommendation causing her to swerve and lose control of her car. been able to continue and hold out for The armored car company only had $1 million of to provide motherly the fair value of Jane Doe insurance, but its insurance company refused to pay those care to her daughters $9,650,000. limits when demanded by Pajcic & Pajcic. It ended up as they have grown paying much more than that after a bad faith trial. into young adulthood. ––––– RECOVERIES ARE BEFORE DEDUCTION FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES AND EXPENSES. MOST CASES RESULT IN A LOWER RECOVERY. IT SHOULD NOT BE ASSUMED THAT YOUR CASE WILL HAVE AS BENEFICIAL A RESULT. VERDICTS ARE BEFORE REDUCTION FOR COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE, SETOFFS, AND HIGH-LOW AGREEMENTS. ––––– 1974 1985 1991 1993 1997 PAJCIC & PAJCIC Gary and Steve Pajcic form Pajcic $2.5 million verdict for $8 million verdict for $1 million charitable gift After five successful appeals, $7 million TIMELINE OF SERVICE & Pajcic with a commitment to factory worker’s loss of construction worker who for scholarships for Paxon from seven different defendants for brain service to clients and the safety leg in product liability suffered brain injury High School graduates. injury to young software executive. of the public with the faith that lawsuit for unsafe design from fall because of Within four years, UNF The lawsuit resulted in new signs CLIENTS, SAFETY & CHARITY good results will follow. of conveyor system. third party negligence. has 35 Pajcic Scholars. marking the entrance and exit. ADVERTISEMENT 1 2 ADVERTISEMENT Profile s& Precedents Profile s& Precedents SUVs SAFER AFTER DUVAL LAWSUITS AND $10 MILLION VERDICT MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR RECOVERIES TRANSFORM LIVES OF CATASTROPHICALLY INJURED CLIENTS The deadly combination of engineer himself, John felt especially Firestone detreads and Ford betrayed by deadly defects in the Jane Doe was a college freshman with a The wonderful news is Explorer rollovers existed for SUV design. He was determined promising future headed to Atlanta, Georgia that the lawsuit recoveries, almost a decade before the fatal to get justice for Jane and to do for Martin Luther King Day celebrations when combined with Jane ’s Jacksonville crashes involving something to prevent others from a bale of hay fell out of a farm truck just ahead remarkable character and Jane Doe on November 20, 1999, suffering the same tragedy. of her on I-20. Jane’s classmate swerved to personality, have allowed and John Doe on July 3 , 2000. In taking on the case, Pajcic avoid the hay and the car slammed into the Jane to live a rewarding Even though there had been & Pajcic decided to focus attention concrete median. and happy life despite her very little publicity about the on the weak roof structure and Although everyone in the car was wearing catastrophic injury. Of problem at that time because of spent over half a million dollars her seatbelt, Jane’s three classmates course, there is regret for the manufacturers’ efforts to keep on testing and experts to prove suffered only minor injuries, while what might have been, but it all quiet and confidential, Pajcic just how deadly the defect was. Jane hit her head on the ceiling now more than 20 years & Pajcic was able to recognize the After four weeks of trial, the Duval of the car and broke her later Jane owns her own defects when the families called jury returned a verdict of more than neck, leaving her a beautiful home, drives her about their tragedies. When Pajcic $10 million against Ford. John has quadriplegic for the own specially designed & Pajcic filed suit on July 24, 2000, since gone on to complete his Ph.D. rest of her life. van and is able to pay newspapers across the country in engineering at UF and is now a Jane’s crestfallen for all the services and carried the Associated Press story, professor at Valpairiso University. parents asked Pajcic equipment she needs. and Gary Pajcic appeared on The Today Show to & Pajcic for help.