GTP CLASSIC: Chris Hamilton | Crisp v. The McDonald's Corporation; McDonald's USA, LLC; and McDonald's Restaurants of Texas, Inc. | $27 million

The Great Trials Podcast

This week, we’re replaying a classic episode where Steve and Yvonne interview Chris Hamilton of Hamilton Wingo LLP (https://hamiltonwingo.com/).

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Case Details:

Discussing a landmark premises liability case, trial lawyer and Hamilton Wingo LLP partner Chris Hamilton explains how he held McDonald's responsible for ongoing lack of security and secured justice for the families of Texas A&M college students Denton Ward and Lauren Crisp, who died following a late-night trip to a McDonald's in College Station, Texas. In February 2012, Denton Ward and Lauren Crisp, along with Samantha Bean and another friend, went to McDonald's, where Denton Ward was violently assaulted by Marcus Jones and a mob of other attackers. Lauren Crisp and Samantha Bean carried a bleeding Denton Ward to his SUV in an attempt to get him to the hospital. The driver, Samantha Bean, ran a red light and collided with another car. Denton Ward was killed and Lauren Crisp, who was unrestrained and tending to Denton Ward's injuries, was also killed. Despite the defense's attempts to shift focus away from McDonald's ongoing lack of concern for customer safety at a restaurant location with a history of late-night violence and to blame Samantha Bean for reckless driving, a Brazos County, Texas jury assigned 97 percent of the responsibility to McDonald's and returned a verdict of $27,000,000 in damages.

Guest Bio:

Chris Hamilton

Chris Hamilton has established himself as one of the leading high-stakes trial lawyers in the United States. Hamilton has a recent track record of verdicts and settlements that are setting the mark in both the personal injury arena and in complex business disputes. For example, Hamilton was recently featured in Courtroom View Network’s (CVN) list of Most Impressive Trials of 2019. In 2014, Hamilton was recognized by the Dallas Business Journal as having the largest jury verdict in Texas for a personal injury case and the 17th largest jury verdict in the United States. In 2016, Hamilton was recognized by Top Verdict as having the ninth-largest personal injury verdict in Texas. Hamilton was recognized in 2011 by Verdict Search as having one of the top 10 verdicts in Texas and top 100 verdicts in the United States. Hamilton was selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America for 2019, the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America for 2020, and is a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

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Free Resources:

Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1

Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2