$5.5M Settlement: Colombo Law

$5,500,000.00 SETTLEMENT

Man Left Paralyzed after Being Struck by a Freightliner Tractor Trailer

Congratulations to Dino S. Colombo, Esq. and Travis T. Mohler, Esq. of Colombo Law in Morgantown, WV for the $5,500,000.00 settlement they obtained on behalf of their client, a 56 year-old man who was struck by a tractor trailer, leaving him paralyzed.

The Plaintiff was coming home from work when he came to a complete stop at a traffic light on a 4 lane highway. Without warning, a freightliner tractor trailer slammed into the rear of his vehicle, flipping the vehicle on its top. The tractor trailer continued through the intersection uncontrollably, smashing into multiple other vehicles. A download of the ECM from the tractor trailer showed that the truck had entered the intersection at 67.5 MPH just 1 second before impact. The Plaintiff sustained a spinal cord injury which left him paralyzed from approximately his umbilicus to his toes.

The stretch of road where the collision occurred has a downhill grade, but is straight with an unobstructed view of the intersection for approximately ¾ of a mile. The tractor trailer driver had driven this route many times. It was a bright sunny day with no road construction. There was no reason the tractor trailer driver could not have seen the multiple cars stopped at the traffic light, he had to be distracted.

Mr. Colombo and Mr. Mohler focused on an in depth analysis of the truck driver’s phone records, compared to the electronic logs of the truck. The data gathered clearly established that the truck driver would routinely send/receive text messages on his phone while he was operating the tractor trailer. In fact, in the hour and a half leading up to the time of the collision with the Plaintiff, he had sent or received 14 text messages. Additionally, at the time of the collision, the truck driver was in the process of downloading data from the internet on his phone. All of this information pointed to the unmistakable fact that the truck driver was using his mobile device at or very near the time of the collision which distracted him and caused this horrific collision that left the Plaintiff paralyzed.

MediVisuals assisted Colombo Law in preparing an interactive chronology (see video below) that tracked the movement of the tractor trailer and documented each time the truck driver was using his cell phone while operating the tractor trailer. This powerful chronology demonstrated the recklessness of the truck driver and also helped to establish that the trucking company had failed to enforce its policy of prohibiting drivers from using their cell phones while driving their trucks.

This case was settled for $5,500,000.00 which were the policy limits of the trucking company.

Click to watch the narrated video

This narrated video illustrates the interactive chronology that tracked the movement of the tractor trailer and documented each time the truck driver was using his cell phone while operating the tractor trailer. This powerful chronology demonstrated the recklessness of the truck driver and also helped to establish that the trucking company had failed to enforce its policy of prohibiting drivers from using their cell phones while driving their trucks.