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Civil Plaintiff

Woman Awarded $1,975,000 After Tow Truck Driver Strikes Her Car While Her Child Was Onboard

On May 2, 2019, a 32-year-old Hispanic mother was driving home from the grocery store with her 7-month-old in the car. It was raining and she was at a complete stop on Veterans Memorial. A tow truck driver slammed into the back of her car. The tow truck driver was a sole proprietor and the driver and company was submitted as one entity for the negligence question. The rear window shattered over the daughter’s car seat, but she came out unscathed. The mother and daughter went to the ER that day and the daughter was cleared. The mother continued with chiropractic treatment and sent for MRI’s. She had a herniated disc in her neck and one in her lower back. She received root blocks (1 neck and 3 in lower back) by Dr. David Tomaszek. The neck pain completely absolved but the lower back pain persisted. On March 2, 2020, she had a discectomy on her L4-L5 and then had 13 physical therapy treatments.

Kevin Haynes, of Kherkher Garcia, LLP, represented the plaintiff during this matter. A jury was picked on Tuesday, March 21 and that took a majority of the day. Openings and evidence took place on March 22nd and the driver was called, the third party witness to the crash, Dr. David Tomaszek. The plaintiff’s team rested that same day. Defense put on their expert (Dr. Wimberley) by video deposition that took until 5pm. Judge Engelhart had previous engagements on Thursday and Friday and then his hearing docket on Monday so we picked back up on Tuesday, March 28th with the cross of Dr. Wimberley. Defense’s position was that the plaintiff jumped in front of the tow truck driver and he couldn’t stop in time. They also argued that there were no future damages and that the surgery completely healed her. At the charge conference, defense requested instructions for sudden emergency and unavoidable accident, but Judge Engelhart agreed with the plaintiff’s argument that they should not be on the charge. The jury found no negligence on the plaintiff. No questions were submitted for the child.

The jury awarded the following: $100,000 – past pain; $100,000 – past physical impairment; $25,000 – past mental anguish; $100,000; $900,000 – future pain; $750,000 – impairment in the future; $25,000 – mental anguish in the future. The total verdict awarded was $1,975,000.

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