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Case Results
Haymond Law has a close relationship with the motorcycle community.
As a sponsor of motorcycle rides and related events, and as riders ourselves, we understand how dangerous motorcycle accidents can be. We have a personal investment in encouraging safe roadways for us and our fellow motorcycle riders, and we are passionate about standing up for the rights of other motorcyclists.
If you or someone important to you has been hurt in a motorcycle accident caused by another driver, please contact us. We have offices in Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York, so you are never far from an attorney who can help with your case.
Make a Motorcycle Accident Claim
If the driver who caused the accident has car insurance, you should be able to file a claim with the insurer. Our legal team can ensure that your claim is filed correctly. If the driver does not have insurance, you may be able to file an uninsured motorist claim if you carry coverage.
Assess Motorcycle Accident Damage
While medical care is a great expense, there is also the damage to your bike. We have a motorcycle damage specialist on staff who can determine the reimburstment cost for loss of use, your vehicle, as well as all customized parts. Knowing what your bike is worth is important to getting fair compensation.
Get a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
An attorney familiar with your local area including its court system is the best possible ally you can have for your case. All you need to do to get a motorcycle accident attorney is contact our firm. We will take care of the rest.
Practice Motorcycle Safety
Maintaining hyper-vigilance and riding defensively is a necessity for safety. Avoid distractions, such as your phone, and keep your eyes searching constantly for new information that relates to your safety—like traffic patterns, road hazards, shifts in the road, etc.
What Factors Drive Motorcycle Accident Settlement Values?
Valuing settlement offers is difficult even for the most experienced attorneys. While are too many uncontrollable factors to allow anyone to apply scientific principles to settlement evaluation, below please find some factors that play a role in settlement totals.
- Defendant’s Negligence – If the defendant is cited for a traffic violation, negligence is established. However, in some accidents, no one is found at fault. This does not mean that negligence cannot be established. However, it does make it a little harder.
- The Severity of Injuries – Thankfully, some motorcycle accidents result in minor damages. However, unfortunately, it is common for accidents to result in serious injuries or even death.
- Prognosis – When the injuries of a motorbike accident are serious and require extensive treatment or rehabilitation, an expert report regarding the cost of what will be needed to get the plaintiff back to normal is important. Furthermore, if the plaintiff will never recover from his injuries, like in situations involving permanent paralysis, an expert report regarding the plaintiff’s life expectancy and the costs of necessary caregivers throughout the plaintiff’s life becomes important. Expert reports regarding the estimate of future care can range from a few thousand to several million.
- How Any Injuries Affect One’s Life – As you can imagine, some injuries can affect a person’s ability to continue in their line of work or in their ability to care for people who were previously depended on them. In general, the more a person’s injuries prevent them from returning to the life they once had, the more value the injuries will have in the eyes of a jury.
- Plaintiff’s Commitment – A plaintiff who wants money without any effort on their part or a plaintiff that wants to be paid ASAP, will not maximize their settlement amount because they do not have the commitment necessary to let the case develop or for negotiations to play out. Moreover, a plaintiff who will fight to the end and is committed to helping his/her attorney with whatever they need, will help maximize their settlement amount.
- Jury Verdict Research – Unfortunately, motorcycle injuries are common, and it is very likely that a jury in your area has heard and decided on a similar case involving similar injuries. These cases provide a framework of what is likely to happen if a case goes to trial. These previous verdicts should be used during any pretrial negotiations.
- Cases Involving Death – The options when it comes to compensation increase when an accident results in death. For example, the son of a father who broke his leg in a motorcycle accident cannot legally pursue damages against the defendant. However, when that same father dies in that accident, that son, and other family members, can legally seek compensation for the loss of companionship and support.
- Property Damage – Generally, the more it costs to replace/fix the motorcycle and/or any other personal property damaged in the accident, the larger the settlement.
- Adjusters – In most motorcycle accidents, the plaintiff will be negotiating (pre-trial) with an insurance adjuster. These adjusters are motivated by one thing – paying as little as possible. Some adjusters are so blinded by this goal that they do not see or acknowledge the facts of the case. However, some adjusters will listen and take everything into consideration. As such, any pretrial settlement talks are highly affected by the willingness of any adjuster to listen.
- Attorneys – Litigation is adversarial. As such, the skill of the attorneys involved will affect settlement talks or jury awards. Generally speaking, the harder a plaintiff attorney works, the higher the settlement.
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Motorcycle Accident Case Examples & Results
Case One: Motorcycle Hit by Car from Behind
Our client was riding his motorcycle when he was hit from behind by a driver who was talking on the phone at the time of the accident. However, there is far more to the story. The driver of the car also committed several other negligent acts. According to Connecticut law, Courts take into account the number of different negligent acts that take place at the time of the accident. This can often result in a much higher financial award if brought to the attention of the insurance companies lawyer or a jury.
The Haymond Law Firm established that she was speeding and was following too closely. In addition, the driver claimed that her visibility was poor due to the fact that she was driving eastbound just after sunrise. We proved that this condition should have been taken into account before she got in her car.
Additionally, the circumstances of the case were exacerbated by the fact that the female driver was making an illegal turn at the time of the accident. The turn was illegal for two reasons: she both failed to signal before making the turn and she attempted to accelerate through a yellow light at the intersection where our client was parked.
CASE FACTS
The motorcycle with less than 300 miles and only three months, was totaled and our client was put in the hospital for three weeks as the result of a fractured leg and ligament damage in his wrist that required two operations to repair.
CASE RESULTS
$450,000
Due to our ability to establish fault on several levels and complete disregard for our client, we were able to recover funds for his pain and suffering and our property damage expert also got him complete reimbursement for the damage to his bike. Our client was thrilled with the recovery as it was far more than he ever expected to receive. All of his medical bills were paid for as was the damage to his motorcycle.
Case Two: Rider Hit in Intersection Accident – Massachusetts
During the summer of 2013, our client was enjoying a casual motorcycle ride in a suburban area. He approached an intersection at the correct speed, intending to cross through the intersection. At the same time, a driver in a sedan pulled up to the intersection to make a left-hand turn.
Accident reports indicate the sedan driver was required to make a full stop, as indicated by a stop sign. Our client had no stop sign, and thus had the right-of-way at the intersection. A report filed by police officers cited the sedan driver with failure to yield and a rolling stop, but also noted that the sedan driver indicated yard debris piled at the curb by a homeowner made it impossible to see the approaching motorcycle.
CASE FACTS
Our client suffered severe injuries that required hospitalization. He also missed several weeks of work during recovery and required physical therapy to rehab injuries to his shoulder.
The other driver’s insurance originally denied the full claim for property damage and medical coverage, citing the negligence of the homeowner in blocking visibility at the intersection. We filed a lawsuit on behalf of our client seeking damages for loss of property, loss of wages, and medical expenses. The suit named both the homeowner and the sedan driver as defendants.
CASE RESULTS
$350,000
The suit was settled out of court with both parties. Insurance companies for both defendants made compensation payments to our client which covered his out-of-pocket medical costs, lost wages, and some amount for pain and suffering.
In all, the case took approximately six months from the initial complaint to final mediation. A settlement may have been further expedited if our client had sought legal assistance immediately, but he first attempted to seek claims payments from the other driver’s insurance company on his own.
Case Three: Motorcycle Accident at Intersection – New York
In August of 2013, our client was driving to work on her customized motorcycle in a city, in New York. As she approached an intersection with a green light, she was struck by an oncoming vehicle that was making a left turn.
CASE FACTS
Our client sustained minor injuries that required treatment at the local hospital. Her customized bike; however, was damaged severely, resulting in a total loss.
The police report cited the driver making the left with 100% fault for failure to yield the right of way. The driver claimed that he did not see our client, nor her motorcycle. The police report indicated that motorcycles head lamp was still illuminated. The both insurance companies involved, our clients and the at-fault driver’s insurance company, wanted to settle the case for $28,700. Which breaks down to $11,000 for the motorcycle, and $17,700 for medical bills, and suffering. The rationale was that the value of the motorcycle was only $11,000 despite the fact that it had been customized.
CASE RESULTS
$275,000
Our firm filed a lawsuit, in which we named both insurance companies, and the at fault driver. Our client was able to produce receipts for all of the customized work that had been done to the motorcycle. The total value of the receipts totaled $78,349.98. The total for medical bills was $16,879. We added into the lawsuit the amount of income that our client lost due to the accident, pain and suffering, even though our client’s injuries were minor, and we asked for ongoing medical coverage for ten years.
The case was settled out of court in just over four months. Our client was able to return to her regular life. She was able to begin the process of customizing another bike to replace the one that had been lost in the accident. She was thankful for our help because, without us, her losses would have been significant. The money awarded was a long way from the $28,700 originally offered by the involved insurance companies.
Case Four: Motorcycle Ride Cut Short
On a sunny August day, our client set a course of for the open road on his prized motorcycle. But his fun run was cut drastically short when he was struck by an erratic driver operating a vehicle in reverse.
CASE FACTS
Our client was sent tumbling to across pavement. His body was marked by road rash, lacerations, and contusions to his foot, shoulder and elbow. His ride was over and the customized motorcycle he so cherished appeared badly mangled.
Our client declined the recommended ambulance transport from the scene. He was more distraught over the loss of his motorcycle than the pain that racked his body. His father took him to an emergency room to be examined by a doctor. He followed that up with an Urgent Care visit to have the wounds cleaned, bandages changed and made sure to see his primary care physician, who knows his medical history best.
CASE RESULTS
On a sunny August day, our client set a course of for the open road on his prized motorcycle. But his fun run was cut drastically short when he was struck by an erratic driver operating a vehicle in reverse.
CASE FACTS
Our client was sent tumbling to across pavement. His body was marked by road rash, lacerations, and contusions to his foot, shoulder and elbow. His ride was over and the customized motorcycle he so cherished appeared badly mangled.
Our client declined the recommended ambulance transport from the scene. He was more distraught over the loss of his motorcycle than the pain that racked his body. His father took him to an emergency room to be examined by a doctor. He followed that up with an Urgent Care visit to have the wounds cleaned, bandages changed and made sure to see his primary care physician, who knows his medical history best.
CASE RESULTS
$20,000
Our client incurred very little in medical bills as the worst thing for him was that he no longer had a bike. It was totaled by the negligent driver. The Haymond Law Firm went to right to work and demanded Geico pay the $20,000 policy. Geico countered with a $7,000 offer, claiming that ML suffered only minimal soft tissue injuries with extremely limited medical treatment.
Haymond Law Firm attorney Albert D’Antonio was livid by the insurance giant’s attempt to lowball his client and not make him whole for his pain, suffering, medical bills and loss of property. Mr. D’Antonio instructed his legal assistant, Julie Moquete, to let that insurance company know they would file an immediate lawsuit on their client’s behalf. The papers were at the courthouse within three days and the Haymond Law Firm kept the pressure on Geico until the policy limit of $20,000 was paid in full.
In addition, The Haymond Law Firm has a property damage specialist on staff. He has been with our Law Firm well over 20 years and knows all the property adjusters personally and knows all the ins and outs of resolving property damage claims to the complete satisfaction of our clients. Our specialist calculated the value of the wrecked bike, the customized parts as well as the custom and irreplaceable paint work on the destroyed bike. Our client was also totally compensated for the loss of his bike as well as all the customized accessories and paint work.
Case Five: Motorcycle Hit by Car in Illegal U-Turn – Connecticut
In April 2014, Our client was involved in a motor vehicle accident when the driver in front of her made a sudden and illegal U-turn. Prior to the accident that seriously impacted her life, Linda was an avid motorcycle enthusiast and a veterinarian’s assistant. On the afternoon of the collision, she was driving her motorcycle on a busy road in Hartford County on her way to work.
The other driver veered to the shoulder, Our client moved into the oncoming lane of traffic and began making a lawful attempt to pass the other driver’s vehicle. Just as she began passing the other car, the driver made an abrupt U-Turn to the left, thereby causing her motorcycle to crash into the back end of the other driver’s car.
The police came to the scene after the accident but Our client was unable to speak to the Officer as she was rushed to the hospital. The other driver claimed that Our client was at fault for attempting to pass her as she was making a left turn. As a result, Our client was issued a ticket for passing in a no passing lane.
CASE FACTS
Our client spent several days at the hospital recovering from her injuries. She hired the Haymond Law Firm to represent her in a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. Our client met with John Haymond in her hospital room and she told him what had really happened. Fortunately for Our client, John Haymond knew from his many years on 2 wheels as well has his many years representing motorcyclists that this type of accident takes place far too often. An accident reconstruction expert was immediately retained to attempt to determine the “how and why” this accident took place. The specialist was able to prove through a detailed analysis that the other motorist was making an improper left-hand turn. Haymond Law continued to work tirelessly on Linda’s behalf.
Our team at Haymond Law put together a compelling video which highlighted the negligence of the driver as well as the severity of the change in the quality of Our clients life after the accident. Without any meaningful negotiation taking place prior to our video and investigation, we were prepared to file a lawsuit against the insurance company and the other driver. The insurance company chose to settle in advance of the case going to court.
CASE RESULTS
$250,000
Haymond Law recovered a $250,000 compensation payout for Our client which covered all the lost wages incurred as well as an unexpected and very large nest egg for her children’ college education.
Haymond Law has worked with victims of all types of motorcycle accidents. We are skilled at investigating accidents to determine the cause, and we know how to demonstrate the facts to the court. Whatever the cause of your accident, please contact us to learn more about how we can help you prove negligence.
Read more of our motorcycle accident case facts and results.