Motor Vehicle Accident Attorneys

Some Case Studies:

The plaintiff, a thirty-four year old woman was operating a Toyota Corolla and was rear-ended by a minivan and pushed into a head-on collision with an oncoming SUV. The plaintiff settled her claim with the operator of the minivan for full policy limits and made a claim from her insurer, Hartford Insurance Company, for underinsured motorist benefits.

The case settled for Two Hundred Thousand Dollars prior to arbitration.

Our client, an 88-year old woman, was a restrained front-seat passenger in a motor vehicle traveling northbound on Route 114, when the driver of her car abruptly stopped the vehicle while attempting to pass a mower, which was partially in the southbound lane and was being operated by an employee for the State of NH, Department of Transportation. Another car to the rear , attempted to maneuvered around the vehicle our client was in, resulting in a head on collision with another car. As a direct result of the force of the collision, our client died immediately. Suit was brought against two drivers and the State of NH.

The Defendants settled prior to trial for a total of $300,000.00.

Our clients were involved in a civil action arising out of a two-car motor vehicle accident on Route 4 in Chichester, New Hampshire, on January 7, 2005. Our client, a 54-year-old woman, was driving her vehicle eastbound on Route 4 while the defendant was driving westbound. The defendant fell asleep and negligently crossed the yellow lines into our client’s eastbound traffic lane, causing a violent head-on collision with her vehicle. The force of the collision totaled our client’s car and crushed both of her lower extremities from her toes to her pelvis. She remained hospitalized for months, requiring multiple surgeries to repair her bones. Following hospital discharge, she required months of VNA services and physical therapy to learn to walk again.

The parties settled out of court for the $250,000.00 limits of the available insurance policy. Notably, due to the compromised nature of this claim and the limited insurance proceeds available for compensation, we were able to get the health insurance company asserting a reimbursement claim to settle its reimbursement claim for only $15,000.

Our client, a 51 year old woman, was leaving a marina when she stopped her vehicle behind the defendant’s pick-up truck. The defendant put his truck in reverse and backed up directly into the front end of the plaintiff’s vehicle. The plaintiff suffered from pain and stiffness in her neck, shoulders and low back and headaches as a result of this accident.

The case was mediated after suit was initiated. The case settled for $25,000.00.

Our client was a 96-year old woman, who was hit by a car after the defendant inadvertently placed the car in drive when she was attempting to back away from the entrance of a building. Our client was struck from behind as she was about to enter the building, pushing her through part of the doorway, and pinning her between the building and the door. Our client suffered a fractured distal right femoral shaft proximal to the condyle with overriding fragments on the right leg, a tibial plateau fracture on her left leg, and other injuries.

This case settled without suit being filed for $850,000.00.

The plaintiff was hit by a car from behind while walking near his home. The car was driven by an 81-year-old woman in failing health who had just returned from the eye doctor and was not wearing her driving glasses. The plaintiff received various injuries including a fracture of the left radius and ulna requiring four surgeries; lacerations to his upper lip requiring thirteen stitches; a concussion; a badly bruised tailbone and left elbow; bruised ribs; and abrasions to his face, hands, and arms.

The case settled at Mediation for $325,000.00.

Our client, a 45-year old man, was walking across Highland Street in the crosswalk at the intersection with Main Street when he was struck by a motor vehicle driven by the defendant. The man suffered a depressed lateral tibia plateau fracture.

This case settled after suit but before trial for $98,000.00.

Our client had stopped in the breakdown lane to help a motorist with a disabled vehicle. The defendant swerved into the breakdown lane at high speed and hit the disabled vehicle, causing that vehicle to hit our client and ultimately sandwiching our client between two motor vehicles. The defendant was following too closely behind the vehicles in front of him and he was not paying attention to the vehicles in front of him. The police report regarding this accident indicates that the vehicles and pedestrians were all found to have been satisfactorily positioned in the breakdown lane at the time of this accident, and that preliminary findings suggested that the defendant’s inattentiveness was the cause of the accident. Our client suffered open right leg tibia and fibula fractures, left knee dislocation, left knee artery laceration and massive open wound to his left calf.

This case settled after private mediation for the sum of $930,000.

Our client was stopped in traffic when he was rear-ended by another driver. He suffered cracking in both sides of his teeth, low back and neck pain, numbness in right leg, and headaches.

The case settled before suit was brought for the driver’s policy limits of $25,000 and for $65,000 from the client’s underinsured motorist coverage.

Our client was a passenger in a car while teaching her nephew how to drive. The car was stopped waiting to make a left hand turn when another driver rear-ended her car. The client suffered mild degenerative changes at C5-6, cervical strain, dizziness and headaches, pain and stiffness of her right arm, low dorsal and lumbar strain with signs of sciatica, pain in her left elbow and arm.

The case settled after suit but prior to trial for $45,000.

Our client was rear-ended causing her body and her son’s body to be thrown into a reclining position. She suffered upper and lower back pain, left leg pain, with a possible displaced lumbar disc at L4-5, tenderness over the ribs, and a thoracolumbar interspinous ligament strain.

The case settled after suit but prior to trial for $52,000.

Our client was injured when another driver failed to yield the right of way as both cars turned into a business. He sustained severe injuries to his neck, back, ribs, right knee and right hip, a laceration to his upper forehead and numerous bruises about his head, ribs and right knee, and pain and stiffness in his lower back radiating down his right leg which required L4-5 posterior and posterolateral spine fusion with instrumentation and iliac crest bone graft surgery.

The case settled after suit but prior to trial for $95,000.

Our client was walking across Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, in the crosswalk, when she was struck by a driver who failed to yield the right of way. Our client suffered a fractured wrist, fractured ribs, a closed head injury, and various contusions.

The case was tried in Hillsborough County Superior Court resulting in a jury verdict for our client and her husband in the amount of $125,000. The jury determined that our client was 20 percent at fault and the verdict was reduced accordingly.

Our client was struck by a car while jogging. Client was hit from behind, thrown into the air and landed on the ground. Client sustained an extensive scalp laceration with underlying skull fracture to the right posterior parietal region. Client was hospitalized for 13 days and then transferred to a rehabilitation center for 28 days of inpatient therapy including speech, occupational, physical and recreation.

The case settled after suit but prior to trial for $400,000 against the defendant’s estate. The plaintiffs received $300,000 from their underinsured motorist coverage.

Our client, age 44, married and the mother of three boys, was seriously and permanently injured when the vehicle she was driving was hit by the defendant’s vehicle after the defendant pulled out into the roadway directly in front of her. The impact of the two vehicles forced our client’s vehicle across the roadway, and at full speed our client ran head-on into a group of trees. Our client suffered traumatic injuries in the accident, the most severe including a brain injury requiring immediate surgery, spinal fractures requiring surgery, and major abdominal injuries. Following the accident our client was hospitalized for a continuous period of over four months at six different medical facilities. Although she is able to function independently for the most part, she has permanent brain damage. The defendant admitted fault in her deposition.

The case settled during the second day of mediation for $1,975,000, plus a reduction in the workers’ compensation lien from $340,000 to $80,000.

Our client was a middle aged man who suffered catastrophic injuries, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the ears down. The accident occurred when a large truck involved in a highway construction project made an illegal u-turn on a divided highway. Our client, who was driving on the highway, ran into the back of the slow-moving truck after it had completed the u-turn and entered the high speed lane of the highway. The company which owned the construction truck and employed its driver was vicariously liable for its driver’s illegal u-turn and independently liable for negligently hiring and retaining him. The general contractor on the construction project was liable because one of its employees had made the same illegal u-turn while showing the subcontractor the job limits and because its employees regularly made this illegal u-turn during the course of the project, leading the subcontractor to believe that the u-turn was authorized. Our client suffered a fracture at C-5 with neurological compromise at C-1. He is permanently paralyzed from the ears down.

The case was settled before trial for $7.5 million dollars.

Our client, a 55 year old computer software engineer, was injured when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while bicycling in Nashua. Although he was wearing a helmet, the plaintiff’s unprotected face made contact with the road and he initially lost consciousness. When he came to, his arms and hands were tingling. In addition, his neck hurt and he was bleeding from cuts on his face, in his mouth, and on his right hand. He also had broken several teeth and damaged some bridgework in his mouth. He was transferred to Massachusetts Hospital for specialized care following the accident. In all, seven of his teeth were damaged in the accident. He required multiple crowns and the placement of three implant posts to facilitate the new bridgework.

This case settled after suit was filed but before trial for $160,000.

Our clients, an older couple, suffered serious personal injuries in a motor vehicle accident at an intersection. During the accident, the defendant pulled out into a roadway, upon which the couple were traveling and had the right of way, and drove directly into their vehicle. The female plaintiff suffered catastrophic injuries, including multiple fractures, a heart attack, recurrent bouts of atrial fibrillation, and a subarachnoid bleed. Due to complications from her injuries in the accident, she later suffered muscle deconditioning and an embolic stroke and died several months after the accident. Her husband suffered his own personal injuries from the accident, including ongoing neck pain, bruising to his thoracic and abdominal region and bruising to his thighs. He also suffered through months of watching his wife battle and ultimately succumb to her serious injuries.

The parties reached settlement before suit was filed.