subject: Elements Impacting Recoveries In Motor Vehicle Accident Claims - A Review Of Settled Cases [print this page] There will be approximately 3 million people harmed this year in a vehicle accident. Two million of those people will experience permanent injuries. That is approximately 1 irreversible injury from a motor vehicle accident every sixteen seconds. Each claim is distinct and brings its own individual challenges. Examples of three such claims are reviewed below in order to find the lessons that can be gained from the way they were handled.
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 victim in the automobile that was t-boned suffered nerve damage to his hand and disc herniations in the neck and back. He had to undergo a total of 4 surgeries for his neck and back and yet another surgery for his arm. He could not play The law firm that handled this claim announced a combined settlement in the amount of $900,000 from the driver, the owners of the truck, and the pizzeria.
The defendant in a second case somehow lost control of the vehicle she was driving. The car went across a number of lanes striking a different vehicle that was approaching from the opposite direction. The plaintiff sustained injuries to the discs at both the cervical and lumbar levels. The plaintiff moreover suffered a meniscus tears in her knee. She needed surgery for her knee injury. The defendant driver had a maximum of $100,000 coverage in her insurance policy. The case went to trial and the law firm that handled the case documented that they were able to achieve a jury verdict in the amount of $625,000 for the plaintiff. It was not clear from the report whether the entire amount was recovered (possiblye from the victims own underinsured coverage, from a bad faith lawsuit against the defendant's insurer or from additional assets of the driver).
A lesson is that there may be yet other parties who were not directly involved in the accident but who can still be held liable. In case 1 above, the pizzeria employed the driver who caused the accident. Given that the accident happened while the driver was acting within the scope of his employment, the pizzeria was liable. In addition, the owners of the truck were also liable.
The next lesson is that injuries from Motor vehicle accidents can have Serious, even Disastrous long-term results. These can include irreversible disabilities, the need for costly medical care, the loss of time from one's job or even an inability to return to work, and life-long pain.
Finally, it is necessary to understand that most people do not have sufficient insurance coverage to adequately cover significant injury. The majority of drivers have only the minimum coverage necassaru under the law. One should thus have ample uninsured and underinsured coverage in ones own insurance policy in the event one suffers a severe or even catastrophic injury. Increasing ones coverage in this way is a relatively modest expense compared to the risk of not carrying enough insurance to cover one's injuries.
