An Injured California Driver Settles with One Defendant, Litigates with Another and Nets a Total Award of Nearly $700K

Your knowledgeable California injury attorney can help in a great many ways after you’ve been hurt in an auto accident. One of the very vital ways in which an experienced injury attorney can assist you greatly is by employing his/her past experiences to help you determine just how much liability each of your opponents has, or how much you might reasonably expect to obtain in compensation from each defendant. Your attorney can also help you get the information you need to determine whom you should pursue, and how aggressively, when you’re faced with a circumstance where more than one party may be liable for your harm. This information can be imperative, especially when it comes to weighing whether or not to accept a settlement offer you’ve received from an opposing party. Consider the case of M.A. (Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC600875,) who was hurt in a three-vehicle intersection crash in Cerritos. M.A. was on the east-west road, traveling westbound. S.H. was on the same road but headed eastbound. J.E. was moving northbound on the intersecting street. S.H. and J.E., with each alleging that he/she had a green light, passed into the intersection and collided. The impact thrust their vehicles into M.A., who was stopped. The accident triggered a worsening of a pre-existing injury that M.A. had in her back and neck. The aggravation was bad enough that, post-accident, she became a candidate for surgery. At this poCA Driver Settles for $700K After Multi-Defendant Lawsuitint, M.A. had some decisions to make. Should she pursue S.H. or J.E. or both? Should she accept a settlement? In M.A.’s situation, the information she and her legal team amassed indicated that S.H. was the driver who was chiefly to blame for the accident, in that S.H. had run the red light and improperly failed to yield, causing the impact with J.E. (who had a green light), and the subsequent collision with M.A.’s vehicle. J.E. offered to settle for $25,000, the limit on his auto insurance policy. Going from the information that indicated that S.H., not J.E., was the driver who illegally failed to yield and was at fault in the accident, M.A. and her legal team concluded that J.E.’s degree of liability was low and, as a result, accepted his settlement offer. On the other hand, M.A. took S.H. to trial. After a five-day trial and three hours of jury deliberations, M.A. received her verdict and all the time and effort that went into the trial paid off. The jury concluded M.A. was entitled to receive $100,000 from S.H. for future medical expenses, in addition to $140,000 for past non-economic damages (which includes things like pain and suffering) and $420,000 in future non-economic damages. All totaled, the jury awarded M.A. $660,000 for the harm she suffered in the crash. There are certain matters related to your auto accident that you, as a layperson, know keenly well based upon having experienced it. There are other matters, though, that generally require the knowledge and experience of a skilled attorney. The diligent and determined San Mateo personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos have been helping injured people for many years in achieving positive results. To set up a free consultation with one of our experienced attorneys, contact us at 650-345-8484 or through our website. More Blog Posts: California Auto Accident Cases Arising from Unusual Scenarios, San Mateo Injury Lawyers Blog, published December 27, 2018 Knowing How Much Your Injury Case is ‘Worth,’ and How This Knowledge Can Help in Your California Lawsuit, San Mateo Injury Lawyers Blog, published September 20, 2018