Lance Behringer
Motorcycle Crash, Causing Fractured Arm & Pelvis Results in $1,050,000 Verdict
May 22, 2024 5:30 PM||
In July 2018, the plaintiff, Mr. Cox, was driving his motorcycle home from a buddy's house where he had been drinking. Mr. Cox stops at the intersection of Highland and Day Creek Blvd. for a red light. The light turns green for Mr. Cox. He then enters the intersection. The defendant is driving N/B on Day Creek Blvd. towards a red light. The defendant drives through the red light, and Mr. Cox collides with the side of the defendant’s vehicle.
Mr. Cox suffered a broken arm and pelvis, and both were surgically repaired with hardware. Mr. Cox was required to spend three weeks in a skilled nursing facility after the surgeries. After that, he did about four months of physical therapy. Mr. Cox’s medical bills were $100,000 dollars. Mr. Cox worked in a very physically demanding job. Due to his injuries, Mr. Cox could not work at full capacity for 10 months. At the time of the trial Mr. Cox had not seen a doctor for his injuries for three years.
This was a jury trial. There were 4 retained defense experts and no retained plaintiff experts. The defense spent over $150,000 in costs on experts to defend the case. It cost the plaintiff $21,000 to litigate the case through trial.
The case dealt with these issues:
- Trying a case with no retained experts, spending only $15,000 in costs on the trial, while going against the defense who had four retained experts and spent over $150,000 on the trial.
- Client was a motorcycle rider and jurors notoriously do not like motorcycle riders.
- Client had positive toxicology screen for alcohol of .04.
- Sub rosa shows client doing physically demanding work.
- Client back at work full time doing physically demanding job.
- No doctor visits in three years prior to trial.
- Trial judge who was doing her first trial as a judge.
- Defense trying to introduce photographs of the property damage and scene of the crash in the middle of trial that was not disclosed during discovery.
- Defendant’s wife speaking with jurors during trial, telling jurors about her children, and asking to pay jurors to be babysitters.
- The day before closing statements defense moving for mistrial based on the bad conduct of the defendant’s wife.
