Brockton Driver Backs Out of Driveway into Pedestrian’s Knee

Our client was taking a walk one morning in his neighborhood in Brockton. He stayed on the sidewalks and enjoyed a cool, crips spring day. Unfortunately, while walking in front of home, a woman backed her car out of her driveway so fast our client was unable to get out of the way.

The woman first claimed that she didn’t see him. At least that is what she told the police. Later, when her lawyer assisted her with answering interrogatories (questions under oath) she testified that she saw our client, but that he was simply walking around holding his knee – and that he hit her car with his hand.

In addition, at her deposition, her testimony didn’t add up: everything took “two seconds” including removing the frost from all of her windows. She also admitted that she saw our client “limping” following the collision. She also admitted that perhaps his hand hit the car after the car hit his knee.

Knee Injuries Treated and Agreed to by Insurance Doctor

Our client was treated at the local hospital and by and orthopedic surgeon. He suffered medial meniscal tear, a lateral meniscus tear and a partial anterior cruciate ligament tear. He went through a serious regime of conservative treatment necessitating cortisone injections and physical therapy.
One of the things that was very helpful was the insurance company attorney had sent our client to the insurance doctor – the Rules require that we call this doctor “independent”, but these doctors do most of their work for the insurance companies. Generally, we know what an insurance doctor’s report looks like: it says that there were no injuries from the “incident”, that anything such as a meniscal tear must have been from before, and that there is no permanent injury. But this insurance doctor wrote an especially helpful and honest report. We certified the report, entered into evidence at trial, and used it against the defendant in this case and that was very helpful.

Insurance Company Won’t Pay So We Went to Trial in Brockton – and Won!

Notwithstanding the insurance doctor’s report, the insurance company would not budge, claiming that our client was not injured. They relied on their insured’s insistence that she did not hit our client; that any injury must be from some other incident.

Thus, we went to trial. The judge did not believe the defendant because of her inconsistencies – she said one thing to the police, one thing in her sworn interrogatories, one thing in her deposition and something else at trial. And, it was documented that our client who was out taking a long walk was suddenly incapacitated for a period of time.

Thus, our client was awarded full damages and judgment. We got an excellent verdict, and we collected the money on behalf of our client.

The verdict was particularly high because as the judge noted, the insurance “independent” doctor report stated that he suffered “internal knee derangement, right, traumatic with knee instability.” Thus, the Judge had ammunition from the defendant herself that the injury was serious.
This case also involved litigation over the payment of PIP amonies pursuant to Chapter 90, Section 34M. See: Plymouth Superior Court Docket Number 01-06046.

Aggressive and Effective Trial Attorneys at Burns & Jain

If you, or a loved one, has been injured in a pedestrian accident in Massachusetts, call Attorney Neil Burns and Attorney Roshan Jain for a free consultation. They have the experience to get you results. Call 617-227-7423