Mary Beth Marchant v. Chad Williams and State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co.
State Court of Spalding County
State of Georgia
Civil Action No.: 07SV-234
Plaintiff’s Counsel: Bill Parker of Childers, Schlueter & Smith, LLC
For 25 years, Mr. and Mrs. Marchant paid State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company substantial premiums for uninsured motorist coverage to cover them if they were ever in a collision with an uninsured driver and suffered injuries. State Farm gladly took their premiums month after month.
On June 17, 2005, Mr. and Mrs. Marchant, and their 5 year old grandson, had traveled from Florida and were on their way to a family reunion at a church in Griffin, Georgia. An uninsured driver, crossed the center line of the highway, and struck the Marchant’s vehicle almost head-on traveling at approximately 50 MPH in a violent collision that totaled both cars. Mrs. Marchant was a 71 year old grandmother and had pre-existing arthritis in her knees and shoulders and pre-existing degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine with a prior disc herniation and bulges in her spine. However, prior to the wreck, she led a very active life including singing in her church choir, walking through cemeteries as an amateur genealogist, and traveling for family vacations and reunions. After the wreck, she was unable to engage in these activities due to her pain.
All of Mrs. Marchant’s treating physicians testified that the wreck either caused her back injuries, or aggravated her pre-existing back injuries. State Farm refused to believe Mrs. Marchant, or any of her doctors, and offered Mrs. Marchant $10,000.00 to settle her case. State Farm forced Mrs. Marchant to litigate her case for almost 5 years and incur substantial and unnecessary expenses. On March 12, 2010, Mrs. Marchant received full justice when a Spalding County jury returned a verdict for her in the amount of $94,441.00. It took the jury just 3 hours to deliberate what State Farm had denied for 5 years. Mr. and Mrs. Marchant received the verdict on their 50th wedding anniversary.
Mrs. Marchant’s statement about her lawyer Bill Parker of Childers, Schlueter & Smith, LLC: “He is an excellent attorney. He kept us informed throughout the nearly 5 year process. I would recommend him to anyone who has had an accident and cannot get justice by themselves.”
