Partners Scott Murray and Scott Perry recently resolved this claim for $675,000.
Our client, a twenty-year-old young man, was crossing the road in a marked crosswalk to help his mother who had a flat tire when he was violently struck by a vehicle whose driver was not paying attention to the road ahead of him. Unfortunately, the driver failed to observe our client despite that fact that he was in the crosswalk, wearing white clothing, and had other visual cues available to him.
Our client was transported from the scene to the hospital with a severe left femoral neck (hip) fracture requiring emergency surgery with hardware.
The defense attempted to blame our client, arguing that he ran out in front of traffic and otherwise failed to pay attention. The Murray Guari Team dispelled that theory by presenting medical evidence that our client was unable to run due to a prior unrelated injury. In addition, the Murray Guari Team retained an accident reconstruction expert to prove that the driver had ample time and distance to avoid this tragic accident had he been paying closer attention to the road ahead of him.
With the defense theory full of holes, we were able to collect the policy limits of: the vehicle owner’s insurance; the underlying policy limits of the driver’s insurance; and a large portion of the driver s umbrella policy — despite that the driver s insurance originally, incorrectly, argued that none of its policies applied.
Our client has his whole life ahead of him and now has financial resources to help pay for the cost of future medical care he is likely to incur over his lifetime due to the defendant s negligence.
It is important to remember that, just because you may have the right-of-way when walking in a crosswalk, you need to remain vigilant because drivers may not be paying attention. We also encourage everyone when walking at night to take extra care, including wearing white or light colors when possible.
