There will be roughly 3 million individuals harmed this year in a vehicle accident. Two million of those will sustain irreversible disabilities. That is an average of one permanent disability from a motor vehicle accident every 16 seconds. Lawyers experienced in handling motor vehicle accident claims recognize that each claim has unique circumstances and challenges. Below we analyze 3 different lawsuits to see what lessons may be discovered from them.
The defendant driver in one case was in the scope and course of his employment as a delivery driver for a Pizzeria. He proceeded into an intersection without realizing that it was a controlled intersection. The stop sign for the intersection was blocked by a parked truck. The truck was in a no-parking zone. Entering the intersection, he broad-sided another car. The driver of that vehicle suffered an injury to the nerve in her left hand.left-hand nerve damage, and herniated discs in both his neck and lower back. He went through a total of 4 surgeries for his neck and back and an additional surgery for his arm. He could not play The law firm that handled this claim reported a combined settlement for the sum of $900,000 from the driver, the owners of the truck, and the pizzeria.
The defendant in a second claim somehow lost control of the car she was driving. The car went across several lanes hitting another vehicle that was approaching from the opposite direction. Due to the accident, the driver of the car that was hit sustained injuries to both her cervical and lumbar discs, and tore both the lateral and medial menisci of her right knee. She needed surgery for her knee injury. The defendant driver had a maximum of $100,000 coverage in her insurance policy. The lawsuit went to trial and the law firm that handled the case published that they were able to achieve a jury verdict of $625,000 for the plaintiff. It was not clear from the report if the entire sum was recovered (for example from the plaintiff's own underinsured coverage, from a bad faith claim against the driver’s insurer or from additional assets of the driver).
An important lesson that can be learned from these cases is that there may be individuals or even entities other than a driver who has at least partial responsibility for the accident. In the first case, for example, the driver was in the course and scope of his employment for a pizzeria at the time of the accident. As such, the pizzeria was also liable for the negligence of its driver. The owners of the truck that obstructed the stop sign while parked illegally were also partially at fault and thus were also liable.
Lastly, it is important to realize that most people carry insufficient insurance to effectively protect against serious injury. The majority of drivers have just the minimum coverage necassaru under the law. One ought to therefore carry sufficient uninsured and underinsured coverage in one’s own insurance policy to protect against the risk of a substantial or perhaps catastrophic injury. Raising one’s coverage is a rather small expense in comparison with the risk of not carrying enough insurance to cover one's injuries.
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