John E. Parker and Ronnie Crosby | Murphy v. Jefferson Pilot Communications | $13.2 Million Verdict

Murphy vs Jefferson Pilot Communications and Donald Feldman

 

This week, your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview John E. Parker and Ronnie Crosbie of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, Detrick, www.pmped.com

 

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Case Details:

 

The firm represented the Murphys in a defamation action against Jefferson Pilot Communications and its news director, Donald Feldman, for defamatory remarks made by Donald M. Feldman. The trial judge directed a verdict for Jefferson Pilot Communications at the end of trial finding Donald Feldman was not acting as an agent of Jefferson Pilot Communications at the time he made the defamatory remarks.

The jury returned a $9,000,000.00 verdict against Donald Feldman. On appeal, the Court of Appeals held the Murphys presented sufficient evidence of agency to make it an issue to be determined by the jury. In a second trial, the jury returned a verdict of $4,250,000.00 against Jefferson Pilot Communications.

 

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Guest Bios:

 

John E. Parker

 

John E. Parker joined the firm in 1973. He has served as president of the firm since 1994. His practice is limited to civil litigation. He has tried to a jury verdict over 150 civil trials. He has handled over 50 appeals which have resulted in published opinions. The majority of the cases he handles involves issues of product liability, defamation, trucking, insurance bad faith, railroads, and personal injury from automobile collisions. He has tried cases resulting in substantial jury verdicts in each of these areas of law.

He has been listed in "Best Lawyers in America" for a number of years. He has also been listed in "Super Lawyers" since it was first published. In 2008 he was selected by "Super Lawyers" as one of the top 25 lawyers in South Carolina. He has an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell. He was recognized in 2010 as one of seventeen lawyers in South Carolina to be profiled in Lawyers Weekly as a recipient of its Leadership in Law Award.

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Ronnie Crosby

 

Ronnie Crosby began practicing with the firm in 1994 in its Hampton office after serving as a judicial law clerk for Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Gerald C. Smoak. Mr. Crosby has successfully represented clients at all levels of South Carolina's state and federal courts in cases involving tractor-trailer collisions, premises liability, motor vehicle collisions, vehicle rollovers, tire separations, roof crush, defective seat belts, defective boat trailers, highway defects, defamation, defective agricultural seeds, and insurance coverage disputes. His current practice focuses primarily on products liability where he is often associated by other attorneys to serve as co-counsel.

Mr. Crosby has settled or tried to verdict in excess of 250 cases that resulted in recoveries of over one million dollars including numerous cases with recoveries greater than ten million dollars. Ronnie has been a featured speaker at the South Carolina Judicial Conference, the South Carolina Association of Justice Annual Convention and the South Carolina Association of Justice Auto Torts Seminar. He was recognized by Super Lawyers as one of South Carolina's top attorneys and has received the highest rating for both legal and ethical standards by Martindale Hubbell. He has served on the Board of Directors for the South Carolina Association for Justice and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group.

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Show Sponsors

 

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Free Resources:

Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1

Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2