Amber Kennedy was in two car accidents in 2007. Kennedy, who was 22 at the time, suffered a permanent back injury. She could no longer do many of the physical activities she loved, like play softball or snowboarding. She also missed a lot of work because she had trouble standing on her feet for long periods of time.

In April 2011, Jason Kafoury & Mark McDougal won Kennedy’s trial in Yamhill County Circuit Court. The jury awarded more than $418,000.

One of the defendants appealed, and the case went all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court.

In 2014, the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed Kennedy’s award, finding that she could keep the $300,000 the jury awarded her for pain and suffering. This case changed Oregon law because the court found that same nine jurors did not have to agree on all of the questions on the verdict form.

The court’s decision meant that seven years after the car crash, Kennedy, who by then was 30 and working as an administrative assistant for the city of Hillsboro, finally ended up getting the money the jury said she deserved.