Verdict of Six Million Dollars Returned in Trucking Collision
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A Wake County jury returned a verdict in the amount of $6million for a Massachusetts truck driver who was injured in a collision in Wake County.
The injured truck driver will need assistance for the rest of his life after suffering a closed-head injury in a head-on collision.
The trial court denied the defendant's motion to set aside the defendant's verdict and held that the verdict was not excessive, was not contrary to law, and was not the product of passion or prejudice.
The defendant's truck driver lost control of his tractor trailer, crossed the center median of a four lane highway and collided nearly head-on with the injured trucker's tractor trailer rig. The injured trucker was knocked unconscious for a short period of time following the impact.
The trucker suffered a mild brain injury, fractured left hip and other orthopedic injuries to the left knee and both elbows. He suffered torn ligaments in the right wrist, muscular injuries to the back and neck, and nerve damage to the left leg.
The trucker was 34-years-old at the time of the collision and continues to be under the care of his primary care physician, an orthopedic surgeon, a neurologist, and a psychiatrist.
The injured trucker's doctor testified that he had a 60^% permanent whole body impairment due to his orthopedic back and neck injuries. He will likely need two hip replacements during his lifetime.
The evidence showed that the injured trucker was totally and permanently disabled from employment. He had earned an average of $12,000.00 per year according to his income tax records over the eleven years preceding the collision. The plaintiff claimed lost earnings in the amount of $758,474.00 based upon the average annual earnings of a trucker working as an employee of a trucking company which was about $32,500.00 a year.
The primary dispute in the case involved the issue of whether the injured trucker suffered a closed head injury.
A head injury was not diagnosed until approximately one year after the collision. The diagnosis was a "mild" brain injury on a scale of mild, moderate, and severe. However, this brain injury was significant in that it impaired the trucker's memory, concentration, attention, information-processing, and decision making. According to the injured trucker, his cognitive problems destroyed his ability to live independently and caused his need for a case manager and lifetime supportive care.
The injured party presented evidence of a life care plan that had been computed for him. This plan called for $1.3million for supportive care. This car was necessary because he was unable to wash his clothes, cook his food, and do a lot of chores the trucker would ordinarily do. The injured trucker now lives with his parents, both of whom are in their 70's.
Prior to the trial, the insurance company for the defendant trucking company offered $2.5million to settle the case out of court. The injured trucker offered to settle for $4.5million.
For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Tractor-trailer accidents.