Settlement: $700,000
This tractor-trailer accident happened on Route 29 in Centreville, Virginia. At approximately 5:45 a.m., before the sun rose, the defendant tractor-trailer driver made a left turn onto Route 29, blocking the road. Our client was driving south on Route 29 at the time with his headlights on. Police photographs showed that the trailer was not equipped with retroreflective conspicuity tape as required by federal regulations, a fact not disputed by the defendants. Deposition testimony of the both the client and an eyewitness traveling in the opposite direction on Route 29 was that the defendant’s trailer did not have any working lights and was not visible at the time of the crash, although the cab lights did work.
As a result of the crash, the client suffered a transverse acetabular fracture, right-side rib fractures and a crush injury to the left wrist with a severed tendon. The acetabular fracture shattered the client’s left pelvic wall, requiring multiple reconstructive surgeries. His medical bills exceeded $240,000. Our client, then a 38-year old airline mechanic, had a titanium hip replacement and now ambulates with the use of a cane.
Suit was filed against the driver of the tractor-trailer, his employer (a trucking company), and the president of the trucking company in his individual capacity (as individual owner of the tractor-trailer). The suit alleged negligence per se based on numerous statutory violations, including the failure of the driver and company to properly inspect that the trailer was equipped with working safety equipment.
The defense argued contributory negligence based on evidence that at the time of the crash the client was speeding, was lost, and had insufficient sleep while returning from a friend’s house in the District of Columbia after having attended a show at a night club in Southeast Washington. The friend, whom the couple had met on the Internet, was unable to be located. Further, the client testified that he had not consumed any alcohol the night before the crash. However, statements in the client’s medical records appeared to conflict with the client’s testimony regarding his alcohol consumption.
Type of action: Negligence, tractor-trailer accident
Injuries alleged: Acetabular fracture, severed tendon, left wrist,early-onset degenerative ankle arthritis
Name of case: Confidential
Special damages: $241,739.29 in medical bills
Verdict/settlement: Settlement
Amount: $700,000 for resolution of this case and related injury case of client’s wife, who suffered a sprained ankle in the crash
Experts for Plaintiff: David Stopper, trucking expert; Sandra Wells-Brown, vocational rehabilitation expert; Dr. Randall Peyton, orthopedist; Dr. AmerSaba, plastic surgeon
Client attorneys: Barbara S. Williams, Armand B. Alacbay, and Cory R. Ford
