The Right Legal Strategy Allows Families Be Compensated More than One Million Dollars For Pedestrian Fatality
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-08-31 12:58:56 | Word Count: 616
Motor vehicle accidents in which the victims are pedestrians commonly involve fatalities. According to information from a few years ago, a pedestrian is killed in a motor vehicle accident roughly every 111 minutes. That amounts to four thousand five hundred pedestrian fatalities each year. In handling a lawsuit involving a fatal pedestrian accident, lawyers need to be able to realize that the nature of the damages that may exist in the given lawsuit and to fully pursue all potential sources available for recovery or award.
In one matter, as he tried to turn left a driver struck and killed a sixty two year-old man crossing the street. There was no dispute that the pedestrian had the right of way. The man did not survive the accident. Liability was not disputed in this matter. The driver admitted to being at fault for the accident. There was no dispute that the driver's full coverage would be paid out. The defendant only had fifteen thousand dollars worth of insurance. The law firm that represented the family of the victim was able to reach a settlement on behalf of the victim's adult children that included both the defendant's policy limits plus $1,000,000 from the driver's employer. They accomplished this by demonstrating that at the time of the accident the driver, even though he was driving his own car, was on his way to a store to purchase starter fluid for his employer's truck. They established that the driver was acting within the course and scope of his employment when the accident happened and hence reached the employer's insurance policy for the additional $1,000,000.
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In another lawsuit, as a man was walking on a sidewalk, the 90 year-old was hit from behind by a pickup truck. The accident happened at a construction site as the driver of the trucck was backing up. And hitting the pedestrian, the truck ran over him, and then pulled forward, running over him a second time. The victim did not survive the accident. The law firm that handled this case for the victim's adult children brought claims against the driver, he driver's employer, the developer at the site, and the contractor. The developer settled for $200,000. The contractor settled for $150,000. While the driver's employer did not deny liabity if the driver were liable, the employer took the position that the driver was not liable since the real cause of the accident was the developer who did not have a lookout person at the scene of the accident while the driver was backing up. After the trial, the jury found against the driver and the employer and ordered that they pay $1.3 million to complensate the victim's family for their loss.
The lesson from these lawsuits is the importance of understanding the value of the damages and to completely look into all possible sources of recovery. A lawyer litigating one of these lawsuits needs to look to all potential defendants. This can include employers and anyone else who can be vicariously liable. Applying this lesson may make a substantial difference in the amount recovered on behalf of the family of a pedestrian killed in a motor vehicle accident.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting wrongful death matters. For a free consultation with a pedestrian accident attorney and more information about other vehicle accident cases including fatal car accident cases visit the websites
