There will be many firsts following the opening of the new Duval County Courthouse June 18. One of those was the first civil trial verdict on June 22.
The Duval County Clerk of Court’s Office confirmed that the case of Govea v. Griffith produced the first civil trial verdict at the courthouse.
Howard Coker and Charles Sorenson of Coker Schickel Sorenson & Posgay represented Cheryl and Stenio Govea in an auto negligence case presided over by Circuit Judge Lawrence Haddock.
“Finally, after all that has gone on, it was great to be in there and trying cases. It is stately and huge, a credit to the City and the judiciary,” said Sorenson.
After final arguments June 22, the jury returned after four hours of deliberations with a verdict that included total damages of $686,657 for Cheryl Govea’s pain and suffering, but it denied the claim that Stenio Govea, husband to Cheryl, suffered damages as a result of his wife’s suffering.
The original complaint was filed Nov. 20, 2009, after a motor vehicle accident Dec. 12, 2007.
According to court records, Loren Griffith was driving along St. Johns Bluff Road and collided with Cheryl Govea’s vehicle near the intersection of St. Johns Bluff Road and Atlantic Boulevard. Griffith was uninsured.
About one in seven drivers are uninsured in the U.S., according to the Insurance Research Council, an independent, nonprofit research organization supported by property and casualty insurance companies and associations.
The estimated percentage of uninsured motorists declined four straight years before rising to 14.3 percent in 2008 and dropping to 13.8 percent in 2009. The council estimated in a 2011 study that 16-30 percent of Florida motorists were uninsured.
Florida was listed as the seventh most expensive state for automobile insurance, according to a 2009 study by the Insurance Information Institute.
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