Our client, a 68 year-old school maintenance worker in East Texas, was running a work errand in a small pickup during the early morning hours. When he stopped to turn left into a bank parking lot, he was struck from behind by an 18-wheeler. The impact caused our client’s truck to travel several hundred yards, knocking down two telephone poles before coming to rest against a steel utility pole.
After our client was released from the hospital, he began showing signs of a traumatic brain injury: headaches, dizziness, and memory loss. His loved ones observed drastic changes in his personality. Co-workers noticed that he could no longer perform the same job tasks that he had done for years. However, the two neurologists who reviewed the images of our client’s brain came to conflicting conclusions—one found no evidence of a brain injury while the other found evidence of only a “possible” brain injury.
The Crosley Law Firm attorneys, relying on their extensive experience in the identification and treatment of traumatic brain injuries, retained one of the nation’s leading neuroradiologists to study our client’s case. Using cutting-edge technology, our expert radiologist was able to pinpoint a blood pocket that formed on our client’s skull immediately after the wreck. Our expert radiologist gave sworn testimony proving how the location of the blood pocket perfectly matched the location and type of brain injury suffered by our client.
After showing the existence and extent of our client’s brain injury, attorney Tom Crosley demanded that the at-fault trucking company settle our client’s case. However, the insurance company for the trucking company refused to make our client a fair offer that would cover his future medical needs. At that point, Tom Crosley stepped up his investigation into the trucking company’s safety practices.
“Federal law requires trucking companies to follow a strict set of safety rules that are intended to protect the motoring public. When trucking companies disregard those rules and cause serious injury or death, we stand ready to hold them accountable,” says Crosley. By cross-examining employees of the trucking company under oath, Crosley Law Firm attorneys uncovered a wealth of facts damaging the trucking company.
First, we proved that the truck in question had numerous mechanical problems, some of which had been known for months. Then, we were able to show that the trucking company failed to keep driver log book records as required by law. Finally, we proved that the trucking company was dispatching its drivers to work dangerously long hours—much longer than allowed by law.
Uncovering all of this damaging evidence was not easy. Crosley Law Firm attorneys engaged in a year-long dispute over truck maintenance and safety records. We went to court many times to show how the trucking company was withholding records. In the end, we persuaded the Judge to sanction the trucking company tens of thousands of dollars for abusing the legal process.
Some of the most valuable evidence in trucking cases often comes from internal emails, and this case was no different. Unsatisfied with the few emails the trucking company was willing to hand over, Crosley Law Firm attorney Charlie Gustin subpoenaed emails from trucking company’s third-party IT provider. By examining him under oath, we were able to prove that the trucking company had withheld several damaging emails, including one email admitting that the collision was clearly their fault!
This new evidence in our client’s favor, as well as The Crosley Law Firm’s track record of success in trucking accidents and brain injury cases, pressured the trucking company’s insurer to pay our client most of the available liability policy. The settlement was enough to cover our client’s extensive past and future medical expenses, as well as a sizable sum to provide for his future financial security.
