Nick Rowley's Opening in Potential $50M TBI Trial Precedes Settlement With Home Depot

In a damages-only trial, telling a vivid plaintiff’s story is paramount to a successful case. In a damages-only trial against Home Depot for the traumatic brain injury a customer suffered, Nick Rowley delivered a masterful opening that helped yield a settlement with the company before the first witness testified.

Jaime Beltran suffered a traumatic brain injury when two metal boxes containing re-keying supplies fell from a Home Depot shelf and struck his head. The home improvement company admitted negligence, disputing only the severity of Beltran’s injury.

Rowley, of Carpenter, Zuckerman, Rowley, used his opening to highlight the stark contrast between the Jaime Beltran that entered the Home Depot on the day of the accident and the Beltran who left it after the injury.  

Before the accident, Beltran, Rowley said, owned his a successful cement business where he oversaw the “creative” and “finishing” work. Moreover “he [was] a man who’s known as the life of the party,” Rowley told jurors. “If there’s anything going on, he’s the sense of humor. He’s the one who’s funny. He brings people’s spirits up. That’s who Jaime Beltran is.”  

But, Rowley said, that all changed when he was struck. “The man who walks out [of the Home Depot] that day is a different man. The evidence will show you that. The witnesses will show you that. The experts will show you that. The testing will show you that,” Rowley adds, highlighting measurable ways that will prove the extent of Beltran’s injuries.

Rowley then approaches Beltran, who is seated in a chair with no table, likely making him appear even more vulnerable. “He [was] not somebody who would cry, somebody who’s emotionally labile, who can’t hold it together, who breaks down sobbing in public. That’s not him,” Rowley says. “You’ll see this isn’t an act,” he continues. “He can’t hold it together.

“He’s a really tough person to be around now. And bless his heart. I’m sorry for saying that,” Rowley adds to Beltran, before turning back to the jurors. “But you’ll hear, he’s a tough person to be around because he’s different.”

The proximity between Rowley and Beltran helps focus the jurors’ attention as much on the plaintiff as his attorney during the opening, providing a living, breathing picture of the loss Rowley describes.

And that loss, says Rowley, is significant, in part because of Beltran’s age. “It’s a 50-year-old brain. It doesn’t bounce back the way a young brain might,” he explains, arguing a key point of contention, the severity of the brain injury, is irrelevant. “Whether it’s mild or moderate [brain injury], you’ll see that’s a misnomer. It’s not like there’s a mild cancer. A mild brain injury, for a 50-year old, it can have lifelong consequences.”

And unlike many attorneys who save any mention of damage numbers for closings, Rowley argues upfront the financial specifics of the loss. While economic damages run between $5-8 million, Rowley says the totality of loss goes much higher.

“The rest [beyond economic damages] is going to be putting the value on the life, the brain injured human’s life,” Rowley explains, assuring the jury that damages won’t be based on mere speculation. “At the end of this trial, I will give you a formula. A formula of what 100 percent of the true value is to compensate someone for the loss of enjoyment of life, the loss of brain function, emotional distress, anxiety, pain, suffering, fear, inconvenience.“ Rowley ticks each item off on his fingers, as if adding the damages, then draws out each syllable of “inconvenience” for apparent emphasis. “How inconvenient it is to have a brain injury is one of the things that a person’s compensated for as part of that pain and suffering.”

“At the end of this trial, that,” Rowley points to a slide showing total damages of between $30-50 million, “will not be an unreasonable, shocking number.”

Rowley’s powerful opening preceded a confidential settlement with Home Depot.