Cell Phone and Grocery Store Records Help Win Case
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An insurance company settled a claim for $ 1,020,000.00 for personal injuries suffered by a man and wife as the result of negligence of an alcohol-impaired driver.
The defendant was turning into her subdivision and swung her sport utility vehicle wide and into the victims' lane of travel, striking the motorcycle they were riding on.
The man suffered multiple broken bones of his left leg. He had a 40% permanent disability of this leg, past medical expenses of $59,660.00, and projected future medical expenses of $28,000.00. He lost wages totally $23,694.00. His wife suffered a 20% disability of her left leg, had past medical expenses of $50,467.00 and lost wages of $6,000.00.
The defendant denied that she had been drinking alcohol even though her breathalyzer test returned a reading of 0.09. She claimed that after the wreck, but before arrival of the officers, she drank a glass of vodka handed to her by a neighbor. She stated hat she had been to the grocery store just before the wreck but did not purchase any alcohol from there.
However, the grocery store produced a computer log showing the date, time, and items purchased by the defendant just before the collision. Indeed, these records proved that amount the items purchased by the defendant was a bottle of wine.
The defendant further denied crossing the centerline. When shown photographs made by a newspaper reporter that showed her vehicle on the wrong side of the road following the collision, she claimed that the photographs were inaccurate and that someone had moved her vehicle to that location after the impact. However, after the collision, at the injured parties' request, the defendant had used the victim's cell phone to call 911. The cell phone billing records established the time of the impact and that no vehicles had been moved before the photographs were taken.
This case demonstrates the importance of obtaining evidence from all sources available to determine the true facts surrounding a collision.
For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.