subject: Bicyclist Who Suffered Permanent Disability Due To Accident Establishes Driver's Fault [print this page] Bicyclist Who Suffered Permanent Disability Due To Accident Establishes Driver's Fault
If a vehicle accident lawsuit involves relatively minor injuries and will probably be resolved with a comparatively modest settlement or award the economics involved make it unlikely that either the plaintiff or the defendant will use an expert witness. The expense incurred by using an expert witness might turn out to exceed the amount that will probably be recovered in the case. For claims with major injuries and enough insurance or assets are available for a substantial recovery and the defense is denying culpability, though, getting the right expert may make all the difference.
As an example, in one reported case an elderly man was driving his vehicle when he lost control and caused a car accident in which he hit a bicyclist. The bicyclist was riding along a bike path next to the road. He was forty years old. After hitting the bicyclist the vehicle continued and slammed into a telephone pole. The driver was found to have sustained heavy trauma to the chest in the accident. He passed away at the scene of the accident prior to the arrival of first responders.
Because of the car accident the victim suffered a head injury. He went into a coma. He was diagnosed with permanent brain damage. He has two daughters yet he will never be able to return home as a result of this accident related disability. He will in all likelihood never be able to work again. He will likely require life care on a continuous basis because of his disability. Furthermore, he will in all likelihood have to live in a rehabilitation facility or institution for the remainder of his life. The cost of his medical care up to the time was over $500,000.
The defense argued that the driver lost control of his automobile because of a sudden heart attack. This would mean that a medical emergency, not the driver's negligence, caused of the accident and the driver was not at fault for the accident and the injuries to the accident victim. At this point a large numer of law firms would likely not have agreed to help the bicyclist. Yet given the severity of the victim's injuries and the potential for a large recovery if the defense's position was not correct, the law firm retained by the victim decided to have a medical expert evaluate the case to discover the actual cause of the driver's death.
The law firm that handled this case had slides of the driver's heart tissue reviewed by a medical expert who was able to determine that the heart attack did not occur prior to the accident. Instead the heart attack happened following the accident from the trauma suffered when he slammed into the pole.
The law firm was able to report that the defense settled the lawsuit for $3.5 million, including $1. million on behalf of the man's wife on her claim for loss of consortium. Insurance company adjusters do not settle claims for amounts like those recovered in this case unless they are persuaded that it is not worth the risking going to trial. This case demonstrates the elements that establish when identifying and retaining an expert to definitively establish liability can make all the difference in the outcome of the case.
