Mʏᴇʀs & Cᴏᴍᴘᴀɴʏ
Trailer Hitch Explains Minimal Property Damage/Own Pre-Existing Conditions
We tried a case for a client who was rear-ended on his way to pick up his grandkids from daycare.
He was driving an SUV. To be fair, there was virtually no visible damage.
But the point of impact was at his trailer hitch.
Our client sustained injuries to his neck, back and knees in the wreck.
Adding to the challenges created by the fact you couldn't see any damage to the vehicle, our client had been in five prior wrecks and had a pretty extensive history of past injuries to his neck, back and knees. Not surprisingly, he had a lot of the same symptoms before the wreck that he experienced after the wreck.
We argued to the jury that the extent of property damage doesn’t predict damage to people inside a vehicle. We explained when a vehicle gets hit at the trailer hitch the energy transfers through the frame rail. The frame rail is not designed with a crumple zone to absorb the energy of the impact. Having the trailer hitch the point of impact made it a much more jarring wreck with much less visible damage than if the impact had been anywhere else on our client’s vehicle.
We were honest with the jury about our client’s prior injuries. We explained that pre-existing conditions make people easier to hurt and harder to fix.
The insurance carrier’s last offer before trial was $13,325. We tried the case and received a jury verdict of $107,000.
The verdict was a heck of a lot better for the client than the offer. Trying cases like this isn't a big money-maker for our firm in the short run. But what I think it does is communicate to insurance companies that we're down where-ever and when-ever to go to court if they don't make fair offers. That creates benefits for every single client we represent and long-term gains for us.
This was a team effort between lawyers and client. Two claps to the whole team for owning the fact that you couldn't see any property damage and that the client was pretty beat up before this happened. And two claps for figuring out little pearls like "pre-existing conditions make people easier to hurt and harder to fix" that make sense to and stick with jurors while they're wrestling with the evidence.