How Two Stories Helped Win a $39M Birth Injury Verdict, with Thomas Greer
The "explainer-in-chief" doesn't try to out-medicine the defense experts — he makes the complicated simple, and lets the jury decide. That philosophy drove a $39 million birth injury verdict for Thomas Greer [https://greerinjurylawyers.com/our-team/thomas-r-greer/] of Greer Injury Lawyers [https://greerinjurylawyers.com/], a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates [https://www.innercircle.org/] whose family legacy of law spans three generations. Host Brendan Lupetin [https://www.pamedmal.com/our-team/brendan-lupetin/] sits down with Thomas to break down a case involving a healthy first-time mother whose son was born septic after physicians missed critical warning signs during a prolonged labor. The jury awarded $27 million in non-economic damages alone — $12 million more than Thomas asked for. Thomas walks through his “pay attention, recognize and respond” opening framework, the two client stories that outperformed every expert on damages, and his tactic of cross-examining the defendant about the defense's own upcoming expert to poison that witness before he ever took the stand.
LEARN MORE AND CONNECT
☑️ Thomas Greer [https://greerinjurylawyers.com/our-team/thomas-r-greer/] | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasrgreer/]
☑️ Greer Injury Lawyers [https://greerinjurylawyers.com/] | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/greer-injury-lawyers/] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/GreerInjuryLawyers] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/greerinjurylawyers] | X [https://x.com/GreerInjury] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@GreerInjury]
☑️ Brendan Lupetin [https://www.pamedmal.com/our-team/brendan-lupetin/] | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-lupetin-64903a7/]
☑️ Lupetin & Unatin, LLC [https://www.pamedmal.com/]
☑️ Connect: Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/LupetinUnatin] | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupetin-and-unatin/] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@lupetin_unatin/videos]
☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trial-medical-error/id1696181757] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/6IyvKFioZCilBS1NwdO0Y5] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLask1nFQd0NyxK7B0gLxeReBapxnYvnhj]
EPISODE PREVIEW
1. Thomas Greer of Greer Injury Lawyers is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates — one of the top 100 trial lawyers in the country — who comes from a three-generation legal family in Dunlap, Tennessee, where his grandfather served as a circuit court judge and his father tried over a hundred jury trials.
2. The case, Berto v. UT Regional One Physicians, involved a healthy first-time mother whose baby was born septic after a prolonged labor during which physicians failed to recognize warning signs and act; the child, now nine, suffered intellectual disability and left-side impairment following a stroke at 10 months.
3. Greer built his opening around two standards of care — "pay attention" and "recognize and respond" — and delivered the case narrative in layers, telling the story in different ways to give the jury the repetition they needed without boring them.
4. Two small, human stories about the child — failing to notice his Chuck E. Cheese card had run out after an hour, and crying every time the family dog was taken to be groomed because he couldn't understand the dog would come back — proved more powerful to the jury than any expert testimony on the damages.
5. Greer used a "cross-by-proxy" tactic, questioning the defendant doctor about the defense's own upcoming expert to poison that witness's credibility before he ever took the stand.
6. In rebuttal closing, Greer incorporated a conch shell he had found on a Memphis sidewalk during the trial, using it as a live metaphor for the case: holding the truth up to the jury's ear and acknowledging that, like the shell, Cordell "wasn't supposed to be like this.”
7. The jury awarded $8.2 million for the life care plan, $3.8 million in economic damages, and $27 million in non-economic damages — exceeding Greer's ask of $15 million for non-economics — for a total verdict of approximately $39 million.
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