Utah Law Talk

In what is being described as the largest traffic accident verdict in Kansas, a jury last week handed down a verdict of $23.5 million in a lawsuit involving the collision of two semi trucks that left one of its victim with a serious spinal cord injury. The amount was later reduced 35 percent by the judge to reflect the contributory fault of the injured victim, for a net verdict of $15.3 million.

According to the Wichita Eagle, the injured man, Terry Frederick, 56, of Overland Park, KS, was asleep in the sleeper portion of a Yellow Freight truck being driven by his riding partner, Dennis Bottorff. The truck accident happened on U.S. 54 near Tucumcari, NM. At the time, the truck was traveling down the highway, approaching a truck stop. Around this time, a woman, in a Swift semi-trailer, was backing her rig onto the highway. (The woman, it is reported, was under the influence of meth at the time.) Mr. Bottorff was apparently unable to stop in time and rear-ended the rear portion of the Swift truck. Sadly he died at the scene. Terry Frederick, who was in the sleeper cab, received a serious, disabling spinal cord injury.

Because of Terry’s severe injuries, he racked up massive amounts of medical bills, some $5 million, according to news reports. The bulk of the jury’s verdict will go to pay back medical providers and care givers who rendered medical treatment and to pay others to provide medical support to him in the future. Kudos to the attorneys who got him this tremendous result. We wish him the best as he continues to adjust to a radically-changed life style that came as a result of the other driver’s (and the trucking company’s) poor choices.

Ron Kramer is a Utah personal injury attorney who specializes in vehicle accident cases, including those involving spinal cord injuries. Earlier this year, he obtained a seven-figure jury verdict for a client who had received a spinal cord injury from a motor vehicle accident in Ogden, Utah.

Published by: Ron Kramer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Dog Bites, Personal Injury, Spinal Cord Injury, Trucking Accident, Vehicle Injury, text messaging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.