Plaintiff Compensated Over $467,000 By Jury Despite Driver Claiming Plaintiff Responsible For Accident
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-10-19 15:43:42 | Word Count: 823
What happens when you are severely injured in a motor vehicle accident due to another driver but that driver not only denies any responsibility for the accident, but even says you were the one who caused the accident? You need to entrust yourself in the hands of an attorney who has the experience and the ability to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the scene of the accident, who will consider every aspect of the scene of the accident, and who has the judgment to understand where to find the proper evidence to disprove the story given by the other driver.
For example, consider the following case: a car traveling straight and a 24 foot box truck making a left turn collided in an intersection. The driver of the car stated that while he did speed up approaching the intersection because the light was yellow. The light was still yellow when he went into the intersection. The driver of the truck, on the other hand, stated that the driver of the car had been speeding and did not stop for a red light when he went into the intersection. The way the lights at the intersection worked, if the victim's light had been yellow then the truck driver's turn signal could not have turned green fast enough for the accident to take place.
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This was not an accident resulting in only slight injuries. In fact, the victim suffered several injuries. He sustained fractures to his left forearm. He suffered a laceration on his head. He had surgery for the forearm fracture. The surgery involved internal fixation. He had to have some 20 staples for the head injury. The plaintiff was forty at the time of the accident.
The law firm that took the case on behalf of the victim examined the scene of the accident. From that investigation the law firm was able to plot the sequence of the lights at the intersection. With that information and the testimony of a driver who had been stopped waiting for the light from the left of the truck driver, the law firm established that the truck driver could not have had a green turn signal. Even if the plaintiff's light had turned red, the light for the witness to the left of the truck would have turned green before the defendant's left arrow would turn green. And that driver's light had not turned green yet at the time of the accident.
After learning about the way lights were programmed the next thing was to establish the sequence. This was done by having a Department of Transportation representative testify regarding the timing and sequencing of the lights at the intersection. The representative's testimony, when combined with the testimony of the witness who was waiting for a green light from the truck driver's left, showed that the truck driver could not have had a green left hand turn signal when he took the turn and struck the victim's vehicle.
The law firm took the lawsuit to trial. Despite the fact that the jury determined that the victim was 15% at fault for the accident, they apportioned 85% of the responsibility on the driver of the truck. Given the percentage of fault allocation by the jury the law firm achieved a recovery of $467,000 for the victim. The day before trial the insurance company refused to settle for a demand of $300,000.
This lawsuit provides an example of the importance that the right attorney and the right law firm can make. Rather than accept the version of the accident given by the defendant the law firm in this case did its own through investigation of the scene of the accident and combined the testimony of a witness with information about the mechanical operation of the lights at the intersection to disprove the position taken by the truck driver.
In addition, the lawsuit shows that, under certain circumstances, even though they face the risk of an adverse jury awardjudgment against them, insurance companies, through their adjusters, will not settle a case. They sometimes believe their insured no matter how much the evidence refutes the insured's story. Juries do not like to be given false testimony and they are far too smart to not realize when the facts overwhelmingly shows that one of the parties is doing just that.
Lawyers handling these matters ought to thoroughly prepare the case for trial so as to obtain a suitable recovery for the victim.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting pedestrian accident cases. To learn more about the way a truck accident attorney can assit you and about other vehicle accident matters including vehicle accident matters visit the websites
