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Chesterfield Jury
Awards $800,000.00
To Woman Injured
By Drunk Driver
On Monday, August 10, 1998, a Chesterfield Jury awarded Julia Allen Winfield $800,000.00 against Chesterfield resident Kenneth Nelson Barnette. Thomas H. Roberts, attorney for Julia Allen Winfield presented the case to the jury that, on November 27, 1989, Kenneth Nelson Barnette, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, crossed the center line and struck head-on the automobile driven by Julia Allen Winfield. The accident occurred at Turner and Delft Road. Although Ms. Winfield suffered substantial injuries and almost $50,000.00 in medical bills, Barnette received only minor injuries. Shortly after the wreck, Barnette attempted to bankrupt the liability to Winfield, however her attorney, Thomas H. Roberts from the law firm of Thomas H. Roberts and Associates, P.C., was successful in obtaining a ruling from the court that under bankruptcy law, debts and liabilities caused by the unlawful operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and drugs was a non-dischargeable debt.
In the punitive phase of the trial, Roberts urged the jury to award punitive damages both to punish the defendant and to set an example to deter others from the sort of anti-social behavior displayed by Barnette. The jury awarded $150,000.00 of punitive damages, after Barnette’s attorney told the jury that the only people who would hear of the award were in the courtroom.
Winfield stated, "I was told by one of those firms that advertise on T.V., since Barnette filed bankruptcy, I didn’t have a case. Mr. Roberts is a real fighter, never gave up and got me results that others couldn’t."
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Contact: Thomas H. Roberts, Esq.
783-2000