An Arlington Motorcycle Crash: Case Study
This is a True Story!
S.C. did not know he was about to become a client of Blaszkow Legal Injury Attorneys as he rode his beautiful Ducati Panigale V2 down the highway, on a late spring 2023 evening. It was about dinner time, and S.C. was enjoying the sun as it warmed him on his bike.
He had been traveling in the left-most of two thru lanes, but changed into the right lane about 100' from the intersection and continued to coast toward the stop line, where he intended to wait for a green light to proceed. Unfortunately, as he was nearly stopped, a trailing sedan crashed into the rear of his motorcycle! S.C. was thrown onto the hood of the sedan, and crashed into the windshield, before being flung onto the road surface like a rag doll. The bike itself skidded forward and came to a stop, leaving drag marks on the asphalt.
The first responders who were summoned transported S.C. to the emergency room at Virginia Hospital Center. Emergency room doctors patched him up there, and sent him home. He had to follow up with an orthopedist, who saw that there were some injuries that could only be corrected with surgery. The surgery was scheduled, and the orthopaedist repaired his fractured wrist with the surgical emplacement of screws and wires intended to get his bones back into place.
C.N. incurred nearly $80,000 in medical expenses for treatment and rehabilitation and missed time from his job in law enforcement over the next seven months. It was at that point that he came to the Virginia motorcycle crash lawyers at Blaszkow Legal to help pick up the pieces, and fight for compensation for his injuries.
Blaszkow Legal's team began investigating the case, and opened up the respective insurance claims. But the insurance companies pounced, arguing that S.C. was guilty of "contributory negligence," and thus weren't going to pay him anything.
Contributory negligence, that Virginia legal concept that kills a personal injury case when the injured person is found to be even 1% negligent, can often be unkind to motorcycle riders in motorcycle accident cases. Potential jurors often have implicit bias against motorcyclists that prevents them from considering their claims fairly. And S.C.’s case looked initially as though it might confront this issue, given the insurance companies' denial.
Blaszkow Legal was not going to just let the insurance companies ignore our client's claims, so we filed a lawsuit. If the insurance companies don't want to pay, this is your remedy, and Blaszkow Legal is not afraid to fight in Court, as well as out. Because the claim was over the $50,000 damages cap of the General District Court, the case was filed in Circuit Court.
The defense tried to claim that S.C. had suddenly and unexpectedly changed lanes in front of the sedan at the last instance. This argument was buttressed by a photo of the sedan showing the damage to the car was to the extreme left corner of the front bumper, thus supporting an argument that the motorcycle had possibly barely entered the car’s lane when the impact occurred. This was enough to make them think they could defeat S.C.'s claim.
But Blaszkow Legal had done it's own investigation, and was able to contradict that argument with additional photos that showed the sedan was located to the extreme right edge of its lane at impact. This location put that left corner of the sedan squarely in the center of the lane which was the same location where the motorcycle came to rest, as well as where the bike laid down scrape marks when it was pushed down the road by the sedan.
The insurance companies teams of lawyers realized that we would be able to convince a jury, and were going to go all the way. They decided to offer all of the available insurance coverage, and Blaszkow Legal prevailed! The case was settled for $130,000, the full amount of the available insurance.
S.C. is now back on his bike, grateful for his recovery and the help he received from Blaszkow Legal, PLLC.
Blaszkow Legal is not a mega-law firm, which means you are not just a number to us! If you have been hurt in a motorcycle crash anywhere in Virginia, then you want a team that isn't going to cut you loose if they can't settle. You want a team that is going to investigate, and fight the insurance companies, in Court, to get you the compensation that you deserve. If you have been injured while riding a motorcycle, call Blaszkow Legal, PLLC today!
Alexandria/Northern Virginia Office:
5270 Shawnee Road #102, Alexandria, Va. 22312
703-879-5910
Richmond Office:
7824 Shrader Road, Richmond, Va. 23294
804-273-8929
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