$215,000 Settlement for Shoulder Injury Caused by Fainting Driver | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

What Happened

Our Virginia Beach, VA, car accident law firm client suffered a serious shoulder injury when another driver struck her vehicle from behind. Statements the at-fault driver gave to police indicated that he passed out behind the wheel in the moments before the rear-end collision.

 

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Key Legal Strategy

The at-fault driver tried to avoid responsibility for compensating the car accident victim by arguing that he experienced an unexpected medical emergency. Our Virginia Beach-based personal injury attorney defeated that argument by acquiring the at-fault driver’s medical records and searching through previous police reports. Those documents revealed that the man who hit and hurt our client had a long history of suffering hypoglycemic crises behind the wheel and causing crashes.

That discovery convinced the at-fault driver’s auto insurance company that it would not win a civil personal injury lawsuit. Negotiations over a fair and just settlement resulted in our client receiving a total of $215,000. She used the money to pay medical pays and complete physical rehabilitation. The settlement amount also included compensation for pain and suffering.

This case confirmed the legal rule that drivers cannot knowingly put other people at risk for suffering injuries. Since the man who rear-ended our client certainly knew from his own medical and driving histories that his episodes of dangerously blood sugar made operating a motor vehicle dangerous, he could not avoid liability for inflicting a debilitating shoulder injury on our car accident client.

Court and Date: Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Virginia Beach, VA

Staff: Staff attorney