Accident with a Police Car Settles for Seven Figures
This client’s story began with a car accident involving three vehicles. One vehicle involved was underinsured – only $100,000 coverage for all injured parties. But the bigger issue at hand was that the accident was also with a police car. To make matters more complicated, the police report, written by some of the officer’s friends, made him appear innocent in the crash.
You may have heard that you cannot sue the government due to immunity, but in many cases that is not true. Especially in cases of gross or deliberate negligence or malice, you can file a claim against the government or its employees.
Cases against any form of government are very difficult to pursue, even for seasoned attorneys. That is why you should never go into a claim against your local or federal government with an inexperienced lawyer and you should never try to pursue these cases alone.
His First Lawyer Said Settle for the First Offer, We Said No Way
The client was working with another injury lawyer who tried to convince him to settle for a mere $20,000. This amount was not even close to what his claim should be worth. Thankfully, the client’s daughter was also an attorney, and she referred her father to Buttafuoco & Associates.
We went over the details of his case and were shocked at how quickly the first lawyer wanted to give in to the $20,000 offer. There was no way we would let this client walk away from his case for less than seven figures. We knew we were up against the county in this situation, but we also knew it was a fight we could win if we could just get the case before a jury.
Taking the Case to Court Proved to Be a Success
The trial was a bit more complicated due to the involvement of the county, but it could not have gone better for our client. The jury first found the police officer to be mostly at fault, winning our client the right to a settlement. However, due to apolitical reasons, the county would not settle voluntarily so we had to a have a jury verdict on damages.
At the conclusion of the trials, our client walked away with a $2,700,000 settlement. Adding in the interest, the case will settle for approximately $3,000,000 – over one hundred times the original offer of $20,000 from the insurance company!
