Attorney Stephen Glenn Lowry's Legal Cases

Personal injury

Jenkins v. Lambert

May 10, 2016

OUTCOME: $40 million jury verdict - This was the #1 largest jury verdict in Georgia for the year 2016.

Climax, Georgia, Police Chief Joel Jenkins was hit by a pickup truck in 2010, after he had pulled to the side of the road to help a stranded motorist. The lights on his car were flashing. The jury f ... ound Derrick Steven Lambert liable for Jenkins’ injuries. Lambert was under the influence of Oxycontin and Xanax when he hit Jenkins’ patrol car head-on with his 2005 GMC Sierra pickup truck. Chief Jenkins is confined to a wheelchair at present because of hip problems caused by the wreck. Jenkins, 42, is permanently disabled and can never work in law enforcement again. Evidence presented to the jury included Lambert’s claim the patrol car lights weren’t flashing and his explanation that he didn’t see the car; he did not attempt to brake; and 11 days before trial he was charged with DUI. Lambert’s legal defense was to blame Jenkins and the stranded motorist for the wreck. Though Lambert was under the influence, his lawyers pointed to the victim for causing his own injuries. They claimed circumstances did not warrant Jenkins parking partially to the side of the road facing south in a northbound traffic lane. Lambert also blamed the stranded motorist, claiming the man had a suspended license and knew he had a faulty gas gauge when he ran out of gas. Lambert’s attorneys also fought against damages, saying Jenkins’ hip injuries were caused by a degenerative illness he had prior to the crash. Harris Lowry Manton (HLM) partner Stephen G. Lowry served as lead counsel for the Jenkins family. HLM associate Kristy Sweat Davies and Robert B. Langstaff of Langstaff Law Firm were co-counsel. Korinne Morris, a certified paralegal at HLM, was invaluable at the trial in Bainbridge, Georgia.

Violent crime

Powers v. Howard

Aug 20, 2015

OUTCOME: $4.8 million jury verdict - Howard was sentenced to six months in jail and paid $4.8 million in damages to the Powers family.

In July 2011, Frank and Heather Powers and their children were driving home to Kennesaw after a vacation in Hilton Head when an irate Thurman Lee Howard opened fire on them. The five bullets broke glas ... s and struck the door of the family’s Ford Expedition but did not directly hit anyone. Occurring on I-95, the drivers first saw each other earlier near a ramp to the highway. There, Howard pulled in front of Powers and hit the brakes. Eight miles later, Howard pulled alongside the family on the highway and started firing a handgun through an open passenger side window of his Audi Quattro. Steve Lowry of Harris Lowry Manton represented the family who claimed Howard had a “specific intent to harm.” Howard, also known as Butch, said that Frank Powers was the instigator. Powers, according to Howard, stopped in the road to block him for no reason and then screamed at him and made obscene gestures. He said he fired on the family because Powers tried to force him off of the road and he was scared for his life. The jury did not find Mr. Howard’s version credible. Howard spent six months in jail for the highway attack on the family.

Personal injury

Bilbrey v. United States of America

Dec 20, 2010

OUTCOME: Over $11.5 million jury verdict - This is one of the largest verdicts ever secured against the United States government and the ninth largest verdict in the state of Georgia in 2010.

On December 22, 2006, after an early morning of Christmas shopping at Wal-Mart and a breakfast stop at Hardees, Mary Bilbrey – who was eight and a half months pregnant at the time – and her fiancé, Jas ... on Murray, were driving to their Monroe, Georgia home. Traveling south on Highway 11 Murray and Bilbrey both testified that the USPS employee suddenly pulled into their lane from his position off the right-hand side of the road. A commercially licensed, experienced driver, Murray swerved to avoid colliding with the USPS truck yet ultimately lost control of his vehicle. The car ran off the road into a fence where a wooden fence rail impaled the vehicle, forcefully striking Mary’s pregnant abdomen. She went into premature labor suffered serious injury and the impact severely brain-damaged her son. The United States denied that the postal driver was responsible for causing the wreck, but the United States Postal Service (USPS) employee was found negligent in the operation of his mail delivery truck. Steve Lowry, of Harris Lowry Manton LLP, served as lead counsel for Mary and Anthony.

Nursing home abuse and neglect

Terhune v. Forum Group Corp et al.

Sep 03, 2010

OUTCOME: $43.5 million jury verdict - This was the largest verdict in the state of Georgia in 2010 and is possibly the state's largest judgment on record against a nursing home facility.

Loretta Terhune sued Forum Medical, as a result of the poor care her father, Morris Ellison received during the eight months he was a resident at Forum Medical's Moran Lake Road Nursing Home in Rome, G ... eorgia. Ellison was malnourished, dehydrated, denied medical care for a broken hip and ultimately died after what was supposed to be a temporary stay as he received post-operative rehabilitative care. He was otherwise in good health. Loretta Terhune was awarded $8.5 million in actual damages and $35 million in punitive damages. Harris Lowry Manton LLP's Steve Lowry served as lead counsel.

Medical malpractice

Allen v. Consolidated Ob-Gyn, Dekalb Surgical Associates

Jan 25, 2010

OUTCOME: $4.3 million - This jury verdict was the largest medical malpractice judgment in the state of Georgia in 2010.

Kathleen Allen’s daughter, Tanyka Brydson, was admitted to DeKalb Medical Center to give birth to her twins via cesarean section. Tanyka’s incision area became infected and required immediate, aggressi ... ve treatment as well as timely surgical intervention. Instead, it was delayed. Ultimately, Tanyka underwent multiple surgical debridements as her condition continued to worsen during her hospitalization at DeKalb Medical Center. Her mother had her transferred to another hospital where she ultimately died due to multi-system organ failure secondary to necrotizing fasciitis. DeKalb Medical Center failed to properly diagnose, treat and care for Tanyka. Consolidated Ob-Gyn and Dekalb Surgical Associates were deemed liable for a total of $4,317,495, including $2.3 million for the value of Brydson’s life, $200,000 for pain and suffering and $1,817,495 for medical and funeral expenses. Jeff Harris and Steve Lowry served as lead trial counsel, along with Jed Manton, in what defense counsel called the most complex medical malpractice case they had ever been involved in.

Defective and dangerous products

Mundy v. Ford Motor Company

May 06, 2009

OUTCOME: $40 million - This was the largest jury verdict in Georgia and one of the top 50 largest verdicts nationwide in 2009. At the time, this was also among the largest personal injury decisions in Georgia history.

On November 1, 2005, Jessica Mundy pulled her Ford Explorer into a parking space in front of the post office located in McDonough, Georgia. She intended to drop off a package in an outside drop box whe ... n she put her vehicle in park and conversed with a friend on her cell phone for several minutes. She then opened the driver’s side door, exited the vehicle and walked toward the drop box. As she approached the sidewalk, the vehicle suddenly, and without warning, shifted into reverse from the park position and began to roll backward. Jessica immediately returned to the vehicle and attempted to reach the shifter lever to place the vehicle back in park. As she tried to get back in the vehicle she was struck by the driver’s side door on the moving vehicle and knocked down. The vehicle ran over her, causing a fracture of her spine. As a result she was rendered a paraplegic. Harris Lowry Manton LLP's trial team, consisting of Jeff Harris, Steve Lowry and Jed Manton, was able to show that Ford Motor Company had known for decades that their transmissions suffered from a defect known as false park. In addition to obtaining the verdict on behalf of Jessica and her husband, Butts County Sheriff Ken Mundy, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation to examine the transmissions defects.

Defective and dangerous products

Zakrocki v. Ford Motor Company

Apr 12, 2007

OUTCOME: $10.6 million jury verdict - This case showcased Ford Motor Company's negligence in addressing a defect that had been identified years earlier.

Rebekah Zakrocki was traveling at highway speeds between 65 to 70 mph along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey at around 9:45 a.m. on November 10, 2000 when she lost control of her vehicle after th ... e throttle stuck. She had to stomp on the gas pedal to release it, which, in turn, resulted in the car lunging forward. Ms. Zakrocki made a sharp turn to the left to avoid hitting a car in front of her, followed by a sharp turn to the right, her SUV eventually rolled over. Ms. Zakrocki’s Explorer failed Ford’s internal objective for passenger vehicles in that it rolled over by virtue of steering inputs alone – an on-road friction rollover. Ms. Zakrocki sustained serious, long-term injuries as a result of the vehicle malfunction. Steve Lowry of Harris Lowry Manton LLP was brought on to try the case because of his extensive background in product liability cases.

Stephen Glenn Lowry's Legal Cases (7)