Freeway collision with semi-tractor trailer. Wrongful death of 26 year old son and injuries to his 55 year old motion. $3.64 Million settlement.
Client fell asleep while driving late at night on I-40, drifted to her right and struck a guardrail. The car rotated and was pointed in the opposite direction. Both occupants were uninjured. Forward looking camera on oncoming truck showed the driver had an unobstructed view of the headlights on client’s vehicle for 10 to 15 seconds. He crashed into the client’s car without slowing, killing the passenger (son) and left mom with a left orbital wall blowout fracture, a right mid clavicle fracture, a left patella fracture, a right radius distal fracture, and displacement fractures of the 5th through 9th ribs. The crash damaged her vocal cords; she requires a tracheotomy to breath.

After months of litigation, opinion testimony from more than a dozen experts in areas of accident reconstruction, trucking operations and medical diagnosis, care, future treatment and vocational loss, and two mediations, the case settled.

Because a large payment to our client would disqualify her from receiving government funded medical treatments and rehabilitation services in her native state, we paid all medical liens and set up a special trust for our client administered by her brother, which will receive annuity benefits of $10,242 per month for the rest of her life.

The settlement was less than we would expect to receive after a trial, but our client’s health was such that we did not know how long she would live and we needed to make sure her immediate needs were met without the delay necessitated by a trial and potential appeal.