Accidents that include commercial trucks frequently end in tragedies. In large part it is as a result of the large weight of commercial trucks that can come in at thousands of pounds tons. If the truck is traveling at a high speed the resulting impact from a wreck might do intensive injury to whoever is in the truck’s way. One type of injury that commonly comes about is a fracture to the spine that can cause paralysis. Attorneys representing victims in such matters should be experienced in the medical and psychological details of these types of injuries as well as the complex liability and insurance issues that tend to arise in these cases. For example, examine the following 2 cases:
In this reported truck accident the victim sustained cervical fractures causing quadriplegia. The victim was in a stopped van on a street in a commercial area in front of a facilities driveway. He had turned on his right turn signal and was waiting for another vehicle to leave the driveway so that he could go in and make a delivery for his employer. That is the point at which a tractor trailer passed the van and slammed into the vehicle comming out of the driveway. The tractor trailer was being operated at a speed of no less than forty five miles per hour and when it slammed into the other vehicle it sent a portion of that vehicle into oncoming traffic and threw the victim's vehicle so that it struck a pole and rolled over. As a result of the injuries from the accident, the victim needs assisted care 24 hours a day.
The full expense of the victim’s treatment and care were expected to be approximately $6 million. Moreover, since his injuries left him with a irreversible disability he furthermore endured a loss of earning capacity.
The law firm that handled this matter for the victim and his wife filed a lawsuit against not just the operator of the tractor trailer and his employer but additionally against the company which retained the driver’s employer to haul their product. As a consequence the law firm documented that the case settled in the amount of $3.0 million of which the first $1.0 million came from the driver’s employer and the additional $2.0 million, the more substantial part of the settlement, paid by the company that retained the driver’s employer to transport their product.
In the second case a mail delivery individual was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer after having stopped her vehicle when she gotten to the next delivery stop on her path. She was hit with such force that the woman was left paralyzed and blind in one eye.
The law firm that handled this case on behalf of the victim and her husband included a number of defendants in the lawsuit. Among those named as defendants were the operator of the tractor-trailer and its owner, but also the company which had contracted for its services. The law firm discovered that he driver of the tractor-trailer possessed an extensive criminal record.
The victim’s medical expenses at the time of settlement amounted to approximately $500,000. She had up to that time lost approximately $50,000 in wages. Given that she was only 53 years old at the time of the accident her lifetime expected future loss and earning capacity came to over $300,000. The law firm documented that the matter settled for the woman and her husband for $5,500,000.
These lawsuits illustrate the benefits of retaining an attorney with the right amount of experience to appreciate the worth of the claims along with track down all those who may have liability and have the insurance or the assets significant for an acceptable settlement or award.
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