Victory in Virtual Trial

Jim Blumenthal earned a victory in Burlington County’s first fully virtual jury trial, and one of the first fully virtual trials in the state of New Jersey. The jury, participating in the trial from their homes via Zoom, returned with a “no cause” defense verdict in a verbal-threshold auto accident case.

The plaintiff alleged that as a result of the rear-end car accident she suffered permanent injuries to her back; in particular, multiple herniated lumbar discs and lumbar radiculopathy. She underwent a course of physical therapy for a year, was supervised by a pain management facility, and received nerve blocks and lumbar epidural injections. She testified at trial that she is still suffering from daily pain and discomfort in her back that she had never experienced prior to the accident.

The defense relied on an expert radiologist who reviewed the plaintiff’s MRI scans and offered the opinion that there was no imaging evidence of a traumatically induced lumbar disc herniation, but rather the pathology in her lumbar spine was degenerative in nature. The defense also offered evidence that the plaintiff had been injured in a car accident one year prior to the accident in question, which supported the argument that she had preexisting degeneration in her spine. Ultimately, the jury found that the defendant’s admitted negligence was not the proximate cause of a permanent injury to the plaintiff, and she was not awarded damages.

A virtual trial format is a much different experience than an in-courtroom trial. The act of physically “approaching” the bench’s sidebar to argue objections was accomplished in a Zoom sidebar breakout room. Individual jury voir dire was accomplished the same way. Witnesses were confronted with exhibits by the lawyers sharing their screens, as opposed to physically handing exhibits to the witnesses. Trial lawyers will need to become proficient in using digital media to put on their cases and adapt to a new style of trial presentation.