Case-Types

 

Office Info

Jay Kerr Law
84 Peachtree Road, Suite 220
Nettlewood Professional Park
Asheville, NC 28803
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828-285-8911 office
800-322-2906 toll free
828-210-8172 fax

Motor-Vehicle Collision

Case Type : Motor-Vehicle Collision/ Car Accident/Personal Injuries: Ambulance Paramedic Passenger - Total Disability

Lawsuit Filed:   Yes (Buncombe County)

Summary:   Plaintiff alleged that driver of passenger vehicle failed to heed sirens and lights of ambulance proceeding cautiously through intersection on call and collided into the passenger side of ambulance, causing it to spin around forcefully.

Liability Issues :   Liability issues preserved by Defendant but not asserted pursuant to settlement discussions.

Damages Issues :   Plaintiff Paramedic alleged that he became totally disabled after suffering a mild traumatic brain injury (closed head) and painful; herniated thoracic discs which necessitated a spinal cord stimulator implant for chronic pain management; and an aggravated   lumbar spine condition which necessitated two spinal stabilization procedures.

Defense Counsel Representation: Yes

Recovery Dates : 2009/2010.   Defendant driver's insurance carrier tendered its primary liability coverage limits in exchange for the Plaintiffs' executed Covenant Not To Enforce Judgment for the benefit of the Defendant driver, whereby the Defendant then was not exposed to a potential jury verdict but the Plaintiffs reserved all rights to proceed with their claims as to available underinsured motorists (UIM) coverage.   The Plaintiffs thereafter selected arbitration in lieu of a jury trial; however, UIM claims were amicably and successfully resolved at a prior voluntary mediation.  

Co-Counsel: Robb Hill, Esq. (Asheville, NC)

 
Case Type : Motor-Vehicle Collision /Car Accident /Personal Injuries: Passenger sustained clavicle and spinal fractures

Lawsuit Filed: No

Summary: Claimant was a front-seat passenger in a vehicle that collided broad-side into an SUV that had attempted to turn across on-coming traffic without the clear right-of-way

Liability Issues: None

Damages Issues : The claimant suffered a right clavicle fracture;   a lumbar vertebral compression fracture; and a displaced right ulna fracture.   He incurred temporary disability from his self-employment real estate investment activities.     

Defense Counsel Representation: No

Recovery Date : 2009. Primary liability coverage and Under-insured Motorists (UIM) coverage limits were obtained.   Medical illustrations graphically depicting the claimant's injuries were presented along with a videotaped interview of the claimant discussing the collision and the effects of his injuries.

 

Case Type : Motor-Vehicle /Truck Accident /Personal Injuries: Tractor Trailer intersection collision

Lawsuit Filed: No

Summary:   Claimant driver of SUV alleged that tractor-trailer driver failed to yield at flashing red light intersection, causing T-bone impact.  

Liability Issues :   Carrier for tractor-trailer did not deny driver's apparent failure but asserted that SUV driver failed to keep a proper lookout

Damages Issues :    Claimant had a pre-existing, on-the-job back injury that made assessing collision spinal trauma problematic.   However, she also sustained new trauma to her wrist from impact forces while gripping the steering wheel.  

Defen se Counsel Representation: No

Recovery Date :   2009

 

Case Type : Motor-Vehicle Collision/Car Accident/Personal Injuries: Nurse Suffers Loss of Earning Capacity from Leg Injuries

Lawsuit Filed:   No

Summary:   Registered nurse sustained significant injuries to her left knee which she alleged substantially impaired her professional duties and caused a loss in her long-term earning capacity.   Her treating orthopaedist assigned a 15 % permanent partial impairment rating to the left knee pursuant to such injuries.

Liability Issues :   None asserted

Damages Issues :   The claimant's loss of earning capacity was documented by substantial, credible evidence of her prior work duties, employer-recognized proficiency, compelled post-injury work modifications, and the nature and extent of her resultant physical impairments.   A videotaped interview of the client discussing such impairments was presented to the insurance carrier pursuant to its claim evaluation process.

Defen se Counsel Representation:   No.

Recovery Date :   2008

 

Case Type : Motor-Vehicle /Truck Accident /Personal Injuries: Passenger Suffers Severe Arm Fractures and Scarring

Lawsuit Filed: Yes (Jackson County, NC)

Summary:   Teenage girl passenger suffered severe injuries when the young driver of a pick-up truck lost control while allegedly playing a game of “chicken” on a rural road with an acquaintance driving another pick-up.   The truck flipped over and the teenage girl's arm was partly crushed on the road.

Liability Issues :   Both drivers were sued because the teenage girl alleged that she only learned after the collision that her friend driver knew of other driver's propensity to swerve “playfully” across centerline, but that friend failed to use reasonable care after saw truck approach and make initial swerve.   Friend driver admitted that he first saw other driver swerve over centerline and then back, but did not believe that he would cross the centerline again.    

Damages Issues :   The teenager was a fitness instructor who desired a career in the fitness industry.   She sustained an extensive scar and deformation to her right upper arm that could not be easily treated with plastic surgery.  

Defen se Counsel Representation: Yes

Recovery Date : 2006

 

Case Type: Motor-Vehicle /Car Accident /Personal Injuries: Corporate vehicle crosses centerline and strikes grandmother and grandson head-on

Lawsuit Filed: Yes

Summary:   Grandmother with front-seat passenger grandson alleged that sales representative driver of corporate vehicle crossed the centerline unexpectedly and collided head-on into her car.   The Defendant driver alleged that the grandmother crossed the centerline into his lane and then moved back into her lane, where he had swerved to avoid the collision, but unfortunately they collided when she moved back into her lane.   

Liability Issues:   Defendant driver and corporate defendant denied liability.   Plaintiff counsel located an unbiased witness who declared that he saw the Defendant driver appear to be talking on his cell phone while driving in the wrong lane, immediately before rounding the curve where the collision occurred.   

Damages Issues:    Grandson suffered a significant hip injury which healed reasonably well but with some future risk of a potential total hip replacement.   Grandmother suffered severe chest-wall trauma which her physician testified caused her to become oxygen dependent. Defendants alleged that the grandmother's pre-existing COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) was the sole cause of her oxygen dependence.

Defense Counsel Representation: Yes

Recovery Date: 2003

 

Case Type: Motor-Vehicle Collision/Car Accident/Personal Injuries: Driver suffered significant bilateral leg fractures after colliding into garbage truck crossing highway

Lawsuit Filed: Yes (Buncombe County, NC)

Summary: Plaintiff mother driver with passenger children alleged that garbage truck driver pulled out into highway traffic without warning causing her to collided into the side of garbage truck at approximately 40 m.p.h.  

Liability Issues: Defendant garbage company denied liability and asserted that Plaintiff failed to yield the right-of-way to the garbage truck lawfully entering the highway and also failed to keep a proper lookout.    Plaintiff counsel retained an accident reconstruction expert who testified as to potential stopping distances based on assumed travelling speeds for the Plaintiff.  

Damages Issues:   Plaintiff suffered significant injuries to both legs which required extensive surgeries and rehabilitation.   She was able to return to work but faced potential long-term medical care and physical therapy.

Defense Counsel Representation: Yes

Recovery Date: 2003 The case settled at mediation for payment of funds to reasonably compensate the Plaintiff for her future medical expenses, pain and suffering, and the long-term effects of her injuries.

 

Case Type: Motor-Vehicle Collision/Car Accident/Personal Injuries:   Eight year old girl loses kidney from seatbelt trauma.

Lawsuit Filed:   No

Summary: Eight year old girl was a front-seat, restrained passenger who was sleeping reclined while traveling with her mother along U.S. Hwy. 64 in Western North Carolina, when another driver, unexpected and without warning, crossed the center line from the opposite direction attempting to make a left-hand turn into the entrance of a resort development.   The impact forces caused the lap belt across the girl's abdomen to sever her left renal artery, resulting in the irreversible loss of the kidney.  

Liability Issues: Although all rights were reserved by the prospective defendant driver, liability issues were not advanced by the driver's insurance carrier.

Damages Issues:   The key and complex issue was, “To what extent did the young girl suffer any long-term damage,   since she could live and function well having her remaining, healthy kidney?”   After compiling extensive research and consulting with experts, the firm advanced the argument that the young girl had lost her “insurance policy,” i.e., the safety of having two kidneys.   However, she now would require protection (funds for potential medical care, disability, etc.) due to the risk of losing the second kidney if she engaged in bike riding, horseback riding, gymnastics, and other activities that posed an appreciable risk of renal trauma, or, in the alternative, she was damaged by the loss of enjoyment of such activities if she were to avoid them.   Her youth was a significant factor since her life expectancy exposed her to greater statistical risks than, e.g., a sedentary, middle-age adult.   

Defense Counsel:   No.  

Recovery Date:   1997.   Plaintiff's counsel negotiated what is believed to have been the largest settlement in North Carolina and South Carolina for pediatric kidney loss, while ensuring that the minor has had monies available throughout important stages of her life through an annuitized structured settlement.
 
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