Everyone experiences significant change, good and bad, at some point over a lifetime. Billy N. Jones, Savannah’s 2020 “Lawyer of the Year in Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs, will be there for you when things take a turn for the worse.
“I enjoy helping people who find themselves, through no fault of their own, involved in some life-changing experience and who need the support and assistance of a lawyer to navigate the complicated judicial system,” Jones says.
He joined the firm now known as Jones, Osteen & Jones in 1973, and one case, in particular, has stuck out over the ensuing 46 years. “It involved Bruce Lowie versus Golden Isles Cruise Lines, which operated a gambling casino vessel named the Emerald Princess,” he explains. “Bruce had fallen through an open manhole on the Emerald Princess and was badly injured. When he retained our law firm, the statute of limitations had expired. We were able to reinstate his case by proving that he had been badly misled by the insurance adjuster for Golden Isles Cruise Lines, who had encouraged him not to file suit.”
Jones found a resolution for Lowie: a verdict of $2,232,000. “We were able to expose the fraudulent scheme used to deprive Bruce of his rights, and the trial court allowed the case to proceed to verdict,” he says. “The verdict was affirmed by the Georgia Court of Appeals.”
Given his experience in cases like these, Jones believes there are three qualities that make a great attorney in his field: " You have to have compassion and empathy for your clients," he says, "and you must have the courage to try your cases when you know your client has not received an adequate offer to settle their case."
