2 Cases Regarding Wrongful Death Claims By Families Of Pedestrians Killed In A Car Accident
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-07-19 15:00:02 | Word Count: 829
A pedestrian will die from a motor vehicle accident every one hundred and eleven minutes. Some of these deaths will give rise to a wrongful death lawsuit. These are sophisticated claims which are regularly aggressively defended by insurance companies and contain difficult medical, accident reconstruction and legal issues.
For any fatal car accident claim, insurance company adjustors, when they recommend any settlement offer whatsoever, will structure the amount dependent not on the plaintiff's damages but rather on the risk faced by the insurance company. There are many ways in which insurance companies try to reduce their risk. For example, liability is often disputed by blaming the victim. There are often several defendants (including drivers, others who contributed to the accident, employer, and vehicle owners). There are also often insurance issues that arise including a responsible driver with no insurance or insufficient insurance, multiple policies, excess policies, and even assets that can be reached. The lawyer also needs to be able to properly value the case. A lawyer handling one of these claims thus should have the skill and experience to deal successfully with all of the challenges that can come up in the matter. Consider:
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A vehicle which was observed speeding by a witness at close to 6:00 in the morning slammed into a pedestrian soon after that. The police investigating the accident revealed that a bystander had seen the vehicle speeding shortly before the accident happened. The police also reported that the vehicle was low on break fluid and had a dirty windshield (which can affect the driver's ability to see ahead) but did not have any cleaning fluid for the windshield.
The victim in this case was 66 year old woman who was trying to cross a street. The female pedestrian was thrown 27 feet by the impact from the accident. The impact and her fall left her with a fracture to her ankle, fractures to multiple ribs, a fracture to her clavicle, and fractures to her skull. Following the accident she was transported to a hospital where she died from her injuries. She left behind a husband, five children, and six grandchildren. The law firm that represented the family of the victim was able to report reaching a settlement in the amount of $725,000.
This case involved a motor vehicle operated by a female in the early evening hours. She fled the scene of the accident after striking a male pedestrian. The person she struck, a male pedestrian, died on account of the accident. He was survived by two children. He worked at a part time job. The female driver was tracked down and arrested by the police. Charges against her were filed for leaving the scene of an accident and for the negligent operation of a motor vehicle resulting in a death. A settlement of $1.15 million was reported by the law firm that represented the family of the victim.
Consider the differences. In the second case the victim held a part-time job. In the first case there is no mention of the plaintiff having a job and, given her age, it is very likely that she was retired. In the second first case the victim had children. It is not clear whether the children were minors or adults. In the first case the victim had five children, but given her age, it is likely all her children were adults. Grandchildren generally have no standing to make a claim for the loss of a grandparent. These differences may reveal why the recovery in the second case was 53% larger than in the first case.
Additional factors that may have affected the amount of the recovery
included the amount of insurance coverage available in each case and the history of verdicts in the jurisdictions where each lawsuit would have been tried.
Insurance companies take making as large a profit as possible very quite seriously. Factors that suggest a low risk to taking the case to trial include plaintiffs with little credibility and little sympathy factors, a lawyer with a reputation for settling cases or for not doing well at trial, and a poor preparation. An insurance company adjuster who perceives a high risk of an adverse award will make a commensurately higher offer. Factors suggesting a high risk include highly credible and sympathetic plaintiffs, a skilled highly experienced attorney with a history of trial successes, and a thoroughly prepared case. Plaintiff lawyers realize that, paradoxically, preparing the case for trial is often the best way to position the case for settlement.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting car accident cases. To learn more about how a pedestrian accident attorney can help you and about other vehicle accident cases including fatal car crash cases visit the websites
