Morgan Freeman is being sued - Should he be?
The good people over at the Commercial Appeal today had an interesting article that states actor Morgan Freeman is being sued by Demaris Meyers. She was the passenger in the car Mr. Freeman wrecked in Mississippi back in August of 2008.
Ms. Meyers is claiming that the accident caused "serious and disabling injuries", including head trauma, a broken wrist, bruises and lacerations. And that on the night of the wreck Mr. Freeman was drinking. However, it is not stated that Mr. Freeman was intoxicated.
What's really interesting to me is that Ms. Meyers has retained Gloria Allred to pursue her case. I'm not so sure that this was a good decision on Ms. Meyers' part. The case was filed in Oxford, Mississippi and a quick perusal through the Mississippi Bar's attorney directory shows that Ms. Allred is not licensed in Mississippi and has most likely never been to court in Mississippi. In my opinion, a group of jurors would probably not look highly upon Ms. Allred and her style of law. Because of this I could easily see potential jurors being turned off and awarding Ms. Meyers a lower amount of money. In this situation it would have been better for Ms. Meyers to have chosen a local lawyer. There are plenty out there who are as equally, or even more qualified than Ms. Allred.
And in regards to the facts of the case and whether Ms. Meyers should recover anything for her injuries? In all likelihood she is entitled to recover. If Mr. Freeman was negligent in driving the night of the accident and his negligence caused Ms. Meyers to be injured he will likely be required to compensate her.
But for how much? It's pretty obvious that Ms. Meyers is going after a lot here. But it's also apparent that Mr. Freeman isn't willing to settle quickly and pay through the nose just in order to avoid the bad publicity that Ms. Meyers and Ms. Allred are trying to heap on him through the press conference that was conducted today.
No one EVER holds press conferences to announce these types of civil lawsuits. The only reason it's been done here is because settlement negotiations likely broke down and Ms. Allred is showing that she will play hardball. If Mr. Freeman was not in the public eye this never would have happened.
So, back to how much? In the end I see this case settling somewhere in the mid-to-low six figure range. But a lot depends on how bad the injuries where that Ms. Meyers suffered, and how badly Mr. Freeman wants this to go away. Both of these are things that only Ms. Meyers and Mr. Freeman know.
What do you think?
Agreed. The other question is how and under what circumstances did she get the case?