Settlement Alert : $3,300,000.00 Settlement for a Volusia County Disputed Liability Motor Vehicle Accident.
What happened : Our client was T-Boned by a Commercial Vehicle after making a U-Turn. Our client was thrown from the vehicle and spent almost 30 days in a Coma. As expected, her recovery is ongoing and will continue for the rest of her life.
What We Learned : Hiring a property damage/accident reconstruction expert immediately after the accident, before knowing the policy limits and before knowing whether the other party accepts liability is imperative to gaining the presuit upperhand against a multi billion dollar insurance company. I understand that this cannot be done on every case. Some attorneys don’t have the means to take this step and for certain cases it is NOT necessary. On this case, it was necessary due to the severity of the injuries and the overall liability dispute. Noone is going to stand on side of the road and preserve the skid marks from the at fault party’s brakes.
Auto accident reconstruction is highly scientific and involves investigative measures including: (1) Analyzing an accident’s physics; (2) Time and distance calculations; (3)
Assessing physical evidence; (4) Analyzing photographic evidence; and (5) Producing specific calculations and measures.
In this particular case, we had a video of the accident, but even with the video we received a presuit invite to a defense firm in Downtown Orlando only be told that our client needed to accept some percentage responsibility. Once our auto accident investigator assessed the data, they produced calculations regarding speed, distance, reaction time, and force of the collision, which all but eliminated Defendant’s insinuation of fault. Expert accounts provide an objective view of what most likely occurred. Drivers only know their own account. Police officers and first responders are more focused on making sure everyone is safe and clearing the roadway than they are conducting a thorough investigation.
Getting an accident investigator/accident recon expert involved early is not the end all be all of every case. Picking the right medical providers and creating realistic expectations are equally important! BUT, in this particular case it was the reason we were able to get from a million dollar opening offer to a 3.3 million dollar settlement.