Defendant Settles Case With Plaintiff For Slamming Into Her In Crosswalk And Seriously Hurting Her

It is truly incredible the way in which individuals can deny blame in matters even though they are clearly at fault for having caused an accident.

Consider the reported matter in which a 71 year old woman was struck in a a motor vehicle accident. She was a pedestrian. She who was struck by a van. As a result of the accident she suffered a fracture of the bone which is located in the lower back portion of the skull. The woman also endured fractures to her right knee. She had to undergo open reduction with internal fixation surgery to repair the knee injury. The trauma from the impact also triggered a collection of blood in the brain. She was half-way through a crosswalk that was controlled by a traffic light when she was struck. The van that hit the victim had been stopped for a red light before going into the intersection. The plaintiff claimed that as she started crossing the crosswalk the traffic control signal was steady and turned to a flashing red light as she was in the crosswalk and was hit by the van.

The defendant alleged that he only entered the intersection after the light turned green for him. The driver even put together testimony from two witnesses who said that the light was green for the driver when the accident took place. Many people, even some attorneys, would probably consider this as a claim that would in all probability result in a defense verdict. Therefore, a lot of attorneys would decline to represent the victim in such a lawsuit. The bulk of the evidence appears to be against the pedestrian. Or is it?

One law firm did take on this case. The strategy they took with the case was to argue that regardless of whether the driver had a green light or not, the pedestrian was already in the middle of the crosswalk and hence had the right of way at the time the driver drove into the crosswalk. He ought to have been paying attention on the pedestrian in front of him rather than with the traffic light to his left. With this argument the law firm reported that it was succeeded in getting a settlement shortly before trial for $300,000, the entire amount of the defendant's insurance policy.

In this lawsuit the defendant and the insurance company blamed the plaintiff for the accident. In effect they took the position that, whether or not there was a person halfway across a crosswalk, as soon as the light turned green the defendant and not the victim in the crosswalk, had the right of way. They in a nutshell argued that, if a pedestrian is too slow in crossing the street, drivers no not have to yield to them.

Not surprisingly the matter settled prior to trial. Still, as noted by the law firm that handled the lawsuit, it settled only shortly before trial. Attorneys who help victims with lawsuits where the defendants take this type of posture must put together the claim as if they will need to take it to trial. It is sometimes the only thing that will persuade the defendants to finally settle the matter. In practice this means not letting the defendants position the lawsuit. In practice one way this may be accomplished is by understanding the impact, or conclusion, of the position taken by the defendants and demonstrating that this would actually go against public policy. That way it may be possible to turn a loser into a winner.

To learn more about how a pedestrian accident lawyer attorney can help you and about other vehicle accident cases including fatal car accident visit the websites