Bennett Legal recently settled a commercial car crash for $2.2 Million in which our client, Andrea, suffered a traumatic brain injury. Andrea received over $1 Million in her pocket for this crash. An Employee of a local Dallas Company driving a straight truck made an illegal left turn from one of the middle lanes in downtown Dallas and crashed into Andrea, who was passing the employee on the left at approximately 10-11 miles per hour.
“IT WASN’T OUR FAULT, IT WAS ANDREA’S FAULT!”
The defense argued their truck was actually stopped in the intersection, and Andrea turned right into the Company’s truck.
But Bennett Legal hired accident reconstruction experts who testified in deposition that, in order for Andrea to turn right into the Company’s Truck, she would have had to start physically turning the wheel of her vehicle when the front of her vehicle was approximately even with the back of the Company’s truck – a highly unlikely scenario since Andrea certainly would have been able to see the Company’s truck to her right. The experts we hired also testified that the Company’s truck was in fact moving at the time of the crash because of the circular marks on the side of Andrea’s vehicle that were made by the Company’s truck’s rotating lug nuts on its front tire, as seen below:
The defense argued their Employee involved in the crash was in fact an independent contractor, so the Company did not owe any duty for negligently hiring, training, supervising, or retaining the Employee. The Company produced an unsigned independent contractor agreement that was dated after the date of the crash as “proof” that the Employee was, in fact, an independent contractor.
Bennett Legal hired a commercial vehicle expert who testified in his deposition that the Company was grossly negligent for attempting to classify their employee as an independent contractor and refusing to train or supervise him.
“WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? THIS WAS A MINOR IMPACT AND ANDREA WAS ALREADY HURT!”
The defense also argued the crash was a “minor impact” based on the damage to the vehicles. The defense hired multiple experts to say Andrea’s spinal injuries were pre-existing the crash from cheerleading and sports injuries and that her traumatic brain injury was pre-existing from traumatic events occurring in her childhood and as an early adult. The defense also argued Andrea’s headaches were actually migraines that pre-existed the crash. Like they often do in cases like this, the defense hired a neurologist who went so far as to call Andrea a malingerer who was lying about her condition for financial gain.
But the accident reconstruction experts Bennett Legal Law hired testified in deposition that the force in the crash was sufficient to cause the injuries to Andrea’s spine and brain. Bennett Legal obtained expert reports and deposition testimony from multiple experts, including a neuropsychologist, multiple neurologists, a biomedical engineer, and a neuro-radiologist who all testified Andrea’s injuries were caused by the crash and likely permanent. We also retained Andrea’s treating neurologist, who testified that in addition to any traumatic brain injury, Andrea was suffering from a traumatically induced intractable headache syndrome.
MRI and Video
Bennett Legal obtained a state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan that showed, among other things, a T2 hyper intensity within the left frontal lobe white matter that was likely secondary to an axonal injury sustained in the crash (also known as a traumatically induced brain injury). The MRI results correlated with the findings of Andrea’s other doctors, including her neurologists and neuropsychologist.
Bennett Legal hired Medivisuals to compile the MRI images into a video, along with drawings of actual photographs of Andrea, to show the Jury (if the case went to trial) exactly where Andrea’s brain damage was. Below is the video with Andrea’s face blurred out:
MEDIATION AND SETTLEMENT
After retaining all the experts, obtaining their reports, and taking depositions of all the defense’s experts, Bennett Legal went to court-ordered mediation at which the defense agreed to pay $2.2 Million to avoid trial.
