Pedestrian Personal Injury case settles for a record breaking $22 million. Father of plaintiff says that now “everyone knows the truth.”
A New York City woman who suffered numerous life altering injuries after a hit-and-run pedestrian personal injury accident has settled with the truck driver and his employer for $22 million.
The horrific crash occurred in 2008. The accident left the woman with brain damage, blindness, and very limited communications skills. If the $22 million settlement goes through as expected, it would be the largest personal injury settlement the state of New York has ever granted. The largest sum previously awarded to settle a single plaintiff personal injury lawsuit was $17.9 million given in 2012 to a 32 year old woman, for a medical malpractice suit, according to VerdictSearch, a division of American Lawyer Media that tracks court payouts.
The lawyer of the woman, who a native Israeli, and hit by the truck when she was just thirty-two years of ago said that he is “satisfied that the amount will be enough to seek the medical care she needs.” The woman suffered brain damage, blindness and can hardly speak. Before her accident she was a Humane Society veterinarian from Fort Greene. It was her birthday when the truck smashed into her, changing her life forever.
The plaintiff’s attorney argued that the woman was hit by the truck while walking across the street, in a crosswalk. The defendants argued that she slipped on ice. The plaintiff’s pedestrian personal injury attorney was successful in proving that she indeed was hit by the front of the truck, and did not slip and fall. Her lawyer stated that the driver “made up a story when the accident happened that she had fallen under the rear wheel of the truck after it made a turn and we were able to prove that that was impossible.”
The parents of the now 37 year old victim were happy with the verdict. “Thank God the American Courts would not let [the trucking company] get away with their cover-up.” It was noted that 911 was not the first call made after the accident, but bosses and the union of the driver. The father continued that the driver “ran her down in a crosswalk and left her to die alone in the street. Now, finally everyone knows the truth.”