Pedestrian Injury - Taxi Accident
Plaintiff was minding his own business, waiting to cross a large, busy street, when a taxi lost control and hit him, throwing him to the sidewalk. Prior to the impact, a truck pulled slightly away from the curb in front of plaintiff, and waited about five seconds for traffic to clear. It was after that five seconds that the cab came into contact with the plaintiff and the truck. Although the cab driver was on the police report, he subsequently left the country. He never testified at a deposition and was precluded from testifying in the event that the case went to trial. Although, we blamed the accident on both vehicles, claiming that the truck caused the cab to lose control, there was absolutely no one to actually place blame on the truck. Even the driver of the cab, before he disappeared, claimed in a report that he was caused to lose control by some kids crossing the street. And if there was a trial, the cab driver would not be there to defend himself. The high likelihood would have been that the jury would blame the cab 100% for the accident. Despite all of these obstacles, WRSMH attorney Bill Hepner was able to convince the truck company that a jury would believe that the truck in some way contributed to the accident, even if only slightly. Under New York law, in an auto case, if one of the vehicles is only one percent at fault for an accident, it can be forced to pay the whole amount of a jury verdict if the other vehicle does not have enough insurance. In our case, the cab did not have enough insurance to cover the leg and back injuries of the plaintiff, so Bill convinced the truck company that they should settle, or risk being at fault for the accident. Although the truck's risk was slight, the case resolved. Our client sustained a broken leg and had surgery.