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28 ¦ MARCH 23, 2020 VERDICTS & SETTLEMENTS

‘We Inundated Them” How One
Attorney Secured $385,000

By Robert Storace

John Duley’s 2016 BMW X5 collided with a car that 16-year-old Courtney Schroeder was driving in North Branford

F in 2017. Courtesy photo
aced with defense counsel pushing back on in- counsel questions about preexisting conditions,
juries a married couple suffered in a car wreck, especially related to John Duley, a former state
and whether there were preexisting conditions, trooper.
a Torrington attorney said he was able to secure a “They were heavily focused on the fact that he
$385,000 settlement for his clients through expert had prior back and hip injuries,” Vance said Friday.
testimony and by sifting through thousands of pages “Testimony from my witness, orthopedic surgeon
of medical records. Shirvinda Wijesekera, helped prove my case. It was
“Both John and Donna [Duley] had records that so important to have a treating physician give a good
filled up binders from this accident alone. We are opinion. He didn’t tie everything to this accident,
talking about thousands of pages of medical records but said the symptoms and treatments were caused
because of the treatments they required. We inun- by Courtney Schroeder running through a red light
dated them [the defense] with medical records,” said and causing the crash.”
plaintiff counsel J. Paul Vance Jr. of Logan & Men- Schroeder, 16, had a learner’s permit when she
cuccini. was driving. Her father, Thor Schroeder, was acting
Vance said he waded through those medical as her instructor at the time. Schroeder was cited for
files because he knew he’d have to answer defense failure to obey a traffic signal.

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