About Joseph R. Neal, Jr.
Joseph R. Neal, Jr. Practice Profile
Focus Areas of Practice
- Serious Road Wrecks: auto, truck, train, bicycle, and motorcycle wrecks
- Fire Cases: electrical, gas, and chemical fires
- Medical Malpractice: hospital, nursing, doctor, pharmacy, and nursing home negligence
- Premises Liability: slip and fall, negligent security, defective conditions
- Defective Products: cars, drugs, electrical or gas fueled products
- Environmental Torts: toxic contamination of land, housing, and businesses
Professional Honors
- 2023 Elite Lawyers of the South by Legal Leaders
- AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
- Client Gold Champion, Martindale-Hubbell
- Lifetime Member, Multi-Million Dollar and Million Dollar Advocates Forum, “The Top Trial Lawyers In America”
- Top Lawyers of Georgia, As Published in the Daily Report and Atlanta Magazine
- America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators
- America’s Top 100 Medical Malpractice Litigators
- America’s Top 100 Attorneys
- Life Time Charter Member, Best Attorneys of America, Rue’s Ratings
- National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 for Georgia
- AVVO Client’s Choice Award, Personal Injury – 2012
- AVVO 10.0 Rating, Top Attorney Personal Injury – 2012
Representative Recoveries
- 2022 Richmond County Superior Court – Broadwater v. Kennedy and Little Caesars – $6,000,000 trial verdict and confidential settlement in a personal injury case due to negligent premises security with video that went viral
- 2022 Dekalb County State Court – Confidential Emergency Room Medical Malpractice wrongful death settlement for $2,000,000
- Vann v. Finley – double fatality trailer fire, over $4,000,000 recovered from three defendants. Defeated City of Augusta on claims of official and sovereign immunity in the trial court, Ga. Court of Appeals, and Ga. Supreme Court (2008-2012)
- John Doe v. ABC Corp – $3,500,000 confidential settlement in a commercial truck wreck case (2019)
- Hill v. USA Truck Inc., – $3,000,000 jury verdict in Federal Court in Anderson, South Carolina in a tractor trailer v. bicycle wreck case that resulted in a broken leg and minor brain injury to client. (2007)
- Daniel v. ABC Gas Co. – $2,200,000 confidential settlement in a wrongful death case resulting from negligent inspection of water heater (2011).
- Jane Doe, Deceased v. ABC Nursing Company – $2,000,000 confidential settlement (2019)
- Johnson v. Kelly and Matheison – $1,500,000 settlement against a public school teacher and principal for permanent burn injuries received by a high school student during a failed chemistry experiment in Douglas County, Georgia. This case set a record for the biggest settlement in Georgia history against a public school employee. (2016).
- Willie Green v. ABC Trucking Co. – $1,275,000 confidential settlement for a driver rear-ended by a box truck who experienced lower back and knee injuries with surgeries in Atlanta, Ga. (2016).
- Curry v. Board of Regents of Georgia, MCG Hospital – $1,530,000 structured settlement for two surviving minor children against the Medical College of Georgia for failure to diagnose and treat a cerebral brain aneurysm of their 27 year old mother (2003).
- Anderson v. Brian Hensley and Great American Ins. Co. – $1,000,000 jury verdict in Thomson, Georgia for a motorcyclist rearended by a drunk driver. Case also resulted in a successful appeal in an 11th Circuit opinion of a declaratory judgment action filed by the insurer which practically overturned 20 years of bad case law in Georgia on the issue of omnibus permissive user clauses. (2015- 2017). As a result, Mr. Anderson collected every dollar the jury awarded him from the drunk driver’s insurance company.
- Williams v. APAC and SC DOT – $1,050,000 cash settlement in favor of a 50 year old wife, mother, grandmother, and worker who was driving to work in the rain when she hit a patch of standing water on defective section of I-20 in Aiken, S. C. and hydroplaned into trees (2004)
- Zambrano v. Surface Flooring Supply, Inc., – $1,000,000 policy limits settlement for a victim of a warehouse accident that caused severe leg and ankle injuries. (2015).
- McMorris v. Som – $875,000 jury verdict in Atlanta, Georgia for a college student ejected from a single car wreck who suffered a mild TBI with several fractured bones in his spine. No surgeries and no medical bills presented to the jury. (2019).
- Peterson v. Board of Regents/MCG Hospital – $777,000 cash/structured settlement for a wife and two children against several doctors of the Medical College of Georgia for failure to diagnose and treat colon cancer of one of its landscaping employees (1999)
- Wilson v. Drew Enterprises – $650,000 cash settlement against a tractor trailer company in personal injury case (2011)
- Morris v. Willie Smith and Waste Mgmt. – $800,000 cash settlement in wreck between logging truck and commercial trash truck (2000).
Professional Leadership
- Georgia Trial Lawyer’s Association – Vice President and Super Champion Member 2011. Active member since 1999.
- American Association for Justice – active member since 2000
- Southern Trial Lawyer’s Association – active member since 2007
- Melvin M. Belli Society – active member since 2009
- State Bar of Georgia – active member since 1993. Board of Governors candidate in 2011.
- Georgia Trial Lawyers Champion Member, Vice President 2011
Lectures
- “Impeachment,” Southern Trial Lawyer’s Seminar, New Orleans, La. 2019
- “Double Fatality Trailer Fire – Creating a Case Where There Was None,” Southern Trial Lawyers’ Seminar, New Orleans, La. 2012
- “Cruising The Deep Powder of Medicare Liens,” Georgia Trial Lawyers’ Seminar, Lake Tahoe, California, 2012
- “Cross-Examination: Witness in the Cross-Hairs, Where Art & Science Intersect” Georgia Trial Lawyer’s Seminar, Atlanta, Georgia, 2008
- “$3,000,000 Jury Verdict in Hill v. USA Truck, Inc.,” Southern Trial Lawyers’ Seminar, New Orleans, La. 2007
- Guest Speaker at Annual Meeting of American Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division, Atlanta, Georgia 2004 – Tort Reform
- Guest Speaker at Georgia Trial Lawyers Association Seminar, Callaway Gardens 2004 – Hospital/Doctor Liens
- Guest Speaker at Georgia Trial Lawyers Association Seminar, Atlanta, Georgia 2002 – Medicaid Liens
Published Cases
- Anderson v. Great American Insurance Company, 847 F.3d 1327 (11th Circuit, 2017)
- Vann v. Finley, 313 Ga. App. 153, 721 S.E.2d 156 (2011), certiorari denied 2012 Ga. Lexis 387 (2012)
- Hill v. USA Truck Inc., 2007 WL 1574545 (D. S.C., Anderson Division, 2007)
- Lindsey v. State, 271 Ga. 657, 522 S.E.2d 459 (1999)
Community Leadership
- Chairman of the 2011 Summerville Sesquicentennial Celebration
- Chairman of the 2011 and 34th Annual Summerville Tour of Homes
- President Of Summerville Neighborhood Assoc. 2009-2011; Vice Pres. 2008-2009
- Chairman of the St. Johns Towers Advisory Board 2011; Member 2008-2010
- Assistant Football Coach, EDS Panthers, 2010-2011 (Defensive Coordinator)
- Assistant Football Coach (Defensive Coordinator), Neal Law Falcons, 2008
- Team Sponsor, North Augusta Recreation Department 2008
- Irish-American Heritage Society – Member since 2008
- Honorary Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army – 2009
- William Daniel National Mock Trial Championships – Juror – Atlanta, Ga. 2013
- American Mock Trial Association Championships – Presiding Judge – Furman University 2008
- Volunteer Assistant Coach – Rich. Co. Rec. Dept. Little League T-Ball and YMCA Soccer. 2001-2005
- Leadership Augusta – 2000
- Mentor, High School High Tech Program 2004
- Mentor, Junior Achievement Job Shadow Program 2003
- Member, Judiciary Subcommittee, Citizen’s Advisory Committee, Augusta-Richmond County Consolidation Taskforce – 1995
- Head Football Coach, Richmond County Recreation Department 1993-1996
Education
- J. D. – Walter F. Georgia School of Law, Mercer University, Macon, Ga. 1993
Honors – Dean’s List, Highest Grade in Tax Class - B.B.A. – J. M. Tull School of Accounting, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. 1990
Dean’s List, Accounting Honor Society - Graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College – 2000, 2001
- Graduate of AAJ’s Ultimate Trial Advocacy Course, the Art of Persuasion, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass. – 2012
- Graduate of Trial Lawyers University 2021, 2022
Contact Neal Today
Contact us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for an immediate case evaluation.