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Our lawyers care about our community!  Congratulations to the Honorees from Bovis Kyle Burch and Medlin and thank you for all you do for DeKalb Pro Bono!

By March 12, 2025 Articles, News/Events/Seminars

Bovis, Kyle, Burch & Medlin’s lawyers care about its community. Dekalb Pro Bono provides free legal services to its residents, and BKBM showed its support as an Advocate Sponsor of Dekalb Pro Bono’s “Leading the Charge Awards Luncheon” on March 12, 2025. Their work makes Dekalb County safer for families facing Family Law issues and for survivors and victims of domestic abuse. Congratulations to the Honorees and thanks for all you do for DeKalb Pro Bono! Bovis, Kyle, Burch & Medlin supporters included (from left to right): Daniel Kilfoyle, Charles Medlin, Marilyn Kapaun, Erin Stone, and Eric Ludwig.

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Wayne S. Tartline and Chang Zhou Obtain Summary Judgment For Underinsured Motorist Carrier In Serious Collision Case.

By Wayne Tartline January 2, 2025 Articles

Plaintiff’s failure to provide timely notice to his own insurance carrier after a serious collision resulted in him being precluded from recovering any underinsured motorist benefits.  Plaintiff sued both the at-fault driver and his own underinsured motorist carrier after he was involved in a collision on April 20, 2022, which resulted in significant damage to his vehicle.

Plaintiff claimed medical special damages of $71,629.17; Plaintiff also produced a life care plan suggesting that the medical care needed by Plaintiff for the next 17 years would cost $101,092.78. Several settlement demands in the amount of $1,000,000.00 were made by Plaintiff’s counsel.

Nevertheless, BKBM attorneys were able to obtain final summary judgment on this claim resulting in no payment by the underinsured motorist carrier. The Court, in granting summary judgment, found “the evidence of record does not overcome [the UM insurer’s] contention that Plaintiff failed to provide timely notice of the loss as required by the policy. In the context of an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim, the failure of an insured to meet conditions precedent to coverage bars coverage and entitles the insurer to summary judgment.”

 Another great result for a BKBM insurance carrier client.

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Attorneys Wayne Tartline and Chang Zhou recently obtained a defense verdict in Gwinnett County

By Wayne Tartline July 15, 2024 Articles

On June 26, 2024, Bovis, Kyle, Burch & Medlin partner Wayne S. Tartline, working with associate Chang Zhou obtained a defense verdict in an auto collision case in the State Court of Gwinnett County after three days of trial.   

Plaintiffs, husband and wife, claimed that defendant driver and his employer caused a collision which led to debilitating injuries and over $100,000.00 in total medical costs. The wife who was the passenger in plaintiffs’ vehicle claimed that the collision caused herniations of discs in her neck and incurred over $15,000.00 in medical bills which included an epidural steroid injection. The husband, driver, claimed that the collision caused herniations of discs in his low-back, but also claimed a full thickness rent type tear of his right rotator cuff.  He was treated with facet injections and claimed that the injuries caused would require shoulder surgery at a cost of $78,936.00; his total medical special damages would be in excess of $107,000.00.  The plaintiffs’ treatments, surgical recommendation and expert testimony that the collision caused their injuries were provided by a national orthopedic medical practice. 

 At trial in Gwinnett County State Court, the plaintiffs testified that their life activities were significantly limited due to the injuries sustained in the collision. Plaintiffs asked for an award of damages of $286,000.00 or more.

 The defense presented expert medical testimony calling into question whether or not the claimed injuries, including the rotator cuff tear were actually related to the collision.  The defense was also assisted by expert testimony from biomechanical engineer Dr. Niky Zaragoza-Rivera, whose forensic investigation, and amazing command of the facts of the case, convinced the jury that the forces and mechanisms required for the injuries claimed were not present in this collision.

 After only an hour of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the remaining defendant driver (his employer was dismissed from the case on a motion for directed verdict). Although the jury did find that the defendant driver was 90% at fault for causing the collision, the jury awarded no damages to either plaintiff. 

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Jury Agrees Defendant was Not DUI in Gwinnett County Collision Case

By Wayne Tartline March 15, 2024 Articles

On February 29, 2024, Bovis, Kyle, Burch & Medlin attorney Wayne S. Tartline, working with Lueder Larkin & Hunter partner Hillary Shawkat, obtained a very favorable verdict for their client who had caused a significant rear-end collision with Plaintiffs’ vehicle in 2018, and who had been accused of driving under influence of marijuana at the time.  Read More