$250,000 Settlement Alert | Franklin, KY
October 16, 2023
The Hughes & Coleman team Bowling Green car accident lawyer team recently secured a $250,000 settlement for a man injured in a car wreck in Franklin, Kentucky. Our client and his brother were traveling behind a limousine through Simpson County on 31W when the limo driver suddenly attempted a U-turn. Our client, unable to stop in time, collided with the limo, causing injuries to both him and his brother, who was in the passenger seat. The next several years would involve several surgeries, extensive physical therapy, and a long, slow recovery for our client.
The Franklin, Kentucky Accident Victim
Our client, an Army veteran, was a hardworking man who had served our country not once, but twice. While enlisted, he was sent overseas, where he learned to service military vehicles and perform other mechanical work. He was self-reliant and dedicated to his work; in his words, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. In his downtime, he enjoyed fishing and spent nearly every weekend fishing with his son. He was also very active; although nearly 60 at the time of the collision, he was an avid runner and would run two miles every other day. He also enjoyed working on his vehicles and working with his hands – a result of his time in the military.
Although active, he admitted he wasn’t in perfect shape; his time in the army and working difficult manual labor had taken its toll, as was expected for a man nearing 60. Our client had undergone treatment for various injuries over the years, and was treating for pain prior to the accident. Despite the treatment he was receiving at the time, he was still able to work and live his life comfortably and unassisted. He was an everyday, blue-collar Kentuckian making ends meet before the accident occurred.
U-Turn Collision in Franklin, KY
In October of 2018, our client was driving his truck through Franklin, just outside of Bowling Green, Kentucky, with his brother was riding next to him in the passenger seat. In front of them was a limousine, and behind them was a semi-truck. The weather and road conditions were ideal; it was a beautiful fall day in Western Kentucky.
As the limo approached an intersection, it started to make a U-turn. However, due to the length of the vehicle, the limo driver was unable to complete the turn. The limo came to a halt directly in our client’s path. Our client attempted to stop and prevent an accident, slamming on the brakes with enough force that he left visible skid marks on the road from his tires. However, with the limo in the intersection and taking up a large portion of the road, our client wasn’t given enough time to bring his vehicle to a complete stop. He crashed into the side of the limousine, sending himself and his brother flying into the dashboard.
In the immediate aftermath, Franklin Police began trying to piece together how the accident happened. When speaking with the driver of the limo, he claimed that he had a green light and shifted blame to our client, claiming he wasn’t paying attention when he struck the side of the limousine. However, a witness to the accident – the truck driver who had been driving directly behind our client – stated otherwise. He told officers that the limo driver had, in fact, attempted to pull a U-turn and failed, causing the collision. Our client and his brother told a similar story. They were traveling at a safe speed and distance, but the abrupt U-turn the limo attempted left our client little time to react. Three individuals had now claimed that the limo driver was responsible, but the limo driver was still continuing to deny fault, so the officers at the scene decided to rely on an unbiased, third-party source to determine what really happened – surveillance footage.
The Franklin Police visited a business adjacent to the accident scene in attempt to view some of their surveillance footage that had potentially recorded the incident. After reviewing the tape, our client’s narrative was confirmed. The limo driver’s version of events was inaccurate, and now four separate accounts – our client, his brother, the semi-truck driver behind them, and the surveillance footage – all proved the limo driver tried and failed to perform a U-turn, cutting across our client’s path.
The limo driver was uninjured, likely due to the point of impact. Our client’s truck had struck the limo towards the middle of the vehicle, far from the driver’s seat. However, EMS was dispatched to attend to our client and his brother. Although both brothers were wearing seatbelts, the impact was severe enough to cause them both to be seriously hurt. Our client noted severe pain in his knee, shoulder, and wrist. His brother in the passenger seat sustained a cut to his hand, and his face was hit with such force that he ended up losing several teeth. The two brothers were taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment and diagnostic testing.
Franklin, KY Car Accident Causes Lasting Injuries
In the following weeks and months, our client was forced to undergo a series of doctor visits, X-rays, and MRIs to determine the extent of his injuries. He learned that he had a Triangular FibroCartilage Complex, or TFCC tear, in his left wrist, as well as medial/lateral meniscus tears in his right knee and a posterior tendon tear in his left shoulder. Due to the severity of the wrist and knee injuries, he had to undergo surgery on both joints, in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain he was experiencing. Additionally, following the surgeries, our client needed extensive physical therapy to try to regain a similar range of motion that he had prior to the collision.
Despite his injuries, our client was resilient. He was accustomed to toughing it out and working through his pain. Following the accident, our client tried to go back to work, but quickly discovered the limitations that came with his new injuries. He attempted to work a job driving a truck for a local farm, but he found that he was unable to drive for long periods of time without being in excruciating pain. With the injury to his knee, getting in and out of the truck proved difficult, if not impossible. The repetitive motion required to strap down tarps for goods he hauled would aggravate the tear in his shoulder. Our client was no longer able to work in the same capacity he used to, and with his mounting lost wages, he found it increasingly difficult to pay the bills, and his mental health began to suffer as he struggled to come to terms with his physical limitations.
He was also no longer able to participate in the hobbies he once loved. Long gone were the weekends spent fishing with his son; the motions casting a line caused him too much pain. He certainly wasn’t running any longer, as he now walked with a cane due to his knee injury. His wrist injury prevented him from working on cars or tinkering with other mechanical devices. In our client’s words, following the accident, he would mostly come home and sit in the house. Other activities that once brought him joy were no longer accessible to him.
Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers Obtain $250,000 Settlement
Entering mediation, the defense argued that our client’s pain was a result of previous injuries. They pointed to the fact that our client had already been in treatment for pain prior to the collision, disregarding the fact that our client had been treating for a different injury than the ones he sustained in the crash. Additionally, they argued that our client’s time in the army had been hard on him physically, and between our client’s age and other injuries in his blue-collar work, his pain was simply a matter of degeneration over time. The pain he was experiencing was natural – just a part of getting old. The defense claimed, because of these reasons, our client’s case was only worth a $50,000 offer.
However, the Bowling Green injury attorneys with Hughes & Coleman knew our client’s pain and suffering was worth far more. After further debate with the defense, our client walked away with a $250,000 settlement – 5 times what the insurance company initially offered. Our team also obtained a $53,000 settlement for the brother in the passenger seat whose teeth were knocked out in the collision.
Franklin Kentucky Accident Attorneys Who Get It Done
The Franklin personal injury lawyers at Hughes & Coleman know what it takes to turn small offers into big settlements. We’ve been doing it for over 35 years. Our attorneys know the tactics insurance companies use to minimize or dismiss your suffering. They’ll go through your medical records, your previous work history, your social media, and anything else that could give them a reason to offer you less than what you deserve. If you’ve been hurt in a car accident in Kentucky due to someone else’s negligence, don’t try to take on the insurance company on your own. Get Hughes & Coleman and Get It Done! Let our team fight for you. Our Bowling Green legal team knew what our client’s case was worth, and we fought for every penny he deserved. We can do the same for you.
