Amount: $975,000 (settled)

Firm Attorneys: Kevin Sharp, Eric Washburn

Court: Virginia Circuit Court

Date resolved: September 2022

WHAT HAPPENED

Our client was operating his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia in January 2022, when a commercial delivery truck, attempting to make a left-hand turn at an intersection, pulled directly into the path of the motorcycle, causing the collision. Our client sustained numerous personal injuries including rib fractures, a pubic rami fracture, and a hip fracture which required a left femoral head implant surgery. Our client was in the hospital for three weeks and then underwent a course of physical therapy and rehab thereafter.

Approximately two years before the accident, our client had been diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer, and he was undergoing cancer treatments and trying to make the most out of the remaining days of his life. While his doctors could not provide our client with a definitive assessment of how long he would be able to live with the cancer, his oncologist had opined that he would likely pass away before July of 2022, which he had eclipsed while this claim was pending. Even with this diagnosis, our client had spent these recent years pursuing hobbies and activities that he has loved throughout his life, including motorcycling.

KEY LEGAL STRATEGIES

Firm attorney Kevin Sharp was sensitive to the fact that our client’s remaining days were precious and how many more he would enjoy was unknown. Further, the suit could take 12 to 24 months to resolve. Attorney Sharp shared the suit papers, after they were filed in court, with the commercial delivery truck company’s attorneys, and suggested a pause before moving forward with the suit, so the parties could potentially engage in voluntary mediation first.

In Virginia, civil personal injury cases are not required to be mediated but our firm has engaged in voluntary mediation in many of our significant personal injury cases. Mediations are formally organized settlement conferences where the parties and attorneys meet on a predetermined date, and are often conducted under the guidance of a retired Virginia Circuit Court judge.

Our client had incurred about $219,000 worth of medical expenses relating to the motorcycle accident, and some of his cancer-related treatment was delayed or adjusted because of the various rehabilitation therapies he underwent for the motorcycle-truck collision personal injuries he suffered. By the date of the mediation, our client was suffering from his advanced cancer but was able to fully participate in the mediation process.

Attorney Sharp, with assistance from firm attorney Eric Washburn, put together a complete demand package of medical records, bills, and accident liability materials to be considered by the commercial delivery truck company during mediation, and by the end of the calendar day on which the mediation occurred, the parties had arrived at a mutually agreeable settlement in the sum of $975,000. The mediated settlement allows our client to spend his remaining days with his family without the stress of litigation interfering with the quality of that time.