Auto Accident Case Study #2

A young woman was riding her bike home from work along a sidewalk in Duluth when a car emerged from a driveway and hit her.  There was poor visibility both for the bike rider on the sidewalk and for a car coming up the driveway.  Minnesota lawstates, in general, that bicycle riders must stay on the roadway, and that it is unlawful to ride a bike on the pedestrian sidewalk.  However, we found that there is an exception for some city areas, depending on the city zoning codes.  We were able to establish, through the testimony of an employee of the city zoning department, that the area where this occurred was such a zone.

The driver maintained that she stopped before the sidewalk and proceeded very cautiously, and that my client must have just plowed into the side of her car.  The jury agreed, after cross-examination of the driver, that her story could not be true, and determined that the driver was completely at fault for the collision.

The young woman suffered an injury to her scapula (or shoulder blade), and incurred a large amount of medical bills for therapy and chiropractic treatment to try to relieve her pain.  The adverse doctor hired by the defense testified that she had merely a back strain that healed within a few weeks after the crash.  Cross-examination established the doctor's history of testifying for insurance companies and earning a lot money for doing so;  that his notes did not support his opinions; and that the treating doctors' records were not consistent with a temporary back strain.

The jury awarded the young woman damages for all of her past medical bills, a significant amount for future medical and chiropractic expenses, and her pain and suffering and disability from normal activities (such as bike riding).