Vehicle Accidents

Bicycle v. Automobile $17,000,000 Verdict
We represented a 53-year-old software engineer who was injured in an automobile versus bicycle collision in the Silicon Valley. A left-turning vehicle struck our client and propelled him onto the hood and roof of the vehicle. He sustained a fracture of the temporal bone with resulting subdural hemorrhage and brain stem compression. The vehicle driver claimed that her vision of the cyclist was obscured by the sun. Our attorneys produced visibility experts at trial. Prior to trial, the defense had offered only $150,000 in settlement

Head-On Collision - $8,875,000 Jury Verdict
Our automobile accident trial specialists obtained a jury verdict in Sacramento County in the amount of $8,875,000 on behalf of a young woman injured in a high-speed head-on collision. Our client’s car was struck by another automobile which was speeding and making an illegal left-hand turn. We sued the driver of the other car as well as the rental agency that had provided the car to the negligent operator. Our client sustained a brain injury and was in a coma following the accident. She also had multiple fractures of her arms and legs. Her claim included compensation for both pain and suffering as well as out-of-pocket damages including wage loss. Her residual complaints at trial included difficulty with memory, speech, gait and cognition. Before the trial, the insurance companies for the defendants had offered only $150,000 in settlement.

Death of husband and father - mismatched car and trailer - $5,250,000 settlement
Our product liability lawyers negotiated a cash and annuity settlement having a present value of $5,250,000 on behalf of the surviving widow and two minor children of a 42-year-old fire captain who was killed when his SUV rolled over on Highway 50 while pulling an "Ultralight" travel trailer. Plaintiffs claimed that the defendant motor home retailer inappropriately sold the family a trailer which was too large to be safely pulled by their small SUV. Plaintiffs also claimed that the retailer failed to advise them that if the travel trailer were loaded to its maximum capacity (as specified by the trailer manufacturer) the trailer would weight 1,400 pounds more than the maximum weight recommended by the SUV manufacturer. While traveling on Highway 50, passing a semi-truck, the trailer was hit by a gust of wind causing it to fishtail, go out of control, and roll over, pulling the towing SUV with it. Defendants claimed that had the decedent read the owner's manual for his vehicle and the trailer he would have observed warnings in both manuals regarding overloading, and, by weighing the vehicles he could have avoided the situation which produced his death. The settlement was reached after three mediations.

Automobile Accident – $4,500,000 Brain Damage Settlement
Our team represented a 14-year-old boy riding as a rear seat passenger in a car that was involved in a head-on collision in Bakersfield, California. As the car encountered a rural intersection, the driver found the roadway flooded. No warning signs had been erected. Although it had been raining earlier, it was not raining at the time of the collision. The flooded roadway caused the car to hydroplane and rotate, crossing into oncoming traffic, and colliding head-on with a car traveling in the opposite direction. Our young client sustained a major head injury, including coma. He also sustained fractures of his left leg and right arm. His medical bills exceeded $500,000. Because of his brain damage, experts forecasted that he would be unable to be self-sufficient in the work place. His future wage loss was estimated at over $800,000. Our attorneys achieved a settlement of $4,500,000 against defendants including the local county water district, the county road department, and the opposing driver.

Vehicle Collision - $ 3,049,000 Settlement - Leg Amputation
Our automobile collision lawyers obtained a settlement of $3,049,000 on behalf of a 53-year-old financial planner, injured while she was riding as a passenger in a car that hydroplaned off State Route 101, crashing into a large portable message signboard owned by highway contractor. During the collision, the frame of the signboard knifed through the passenger door striking our injured client in her right hip, causing massive injuries, including an open and unstable pelvic fracture and a below-the-knee amputation. The contractors crews placed the CMS board on the dirt shoulder of the roadway, just outside an enclosed storage area, as part of a construction project to upgrade the 101. At the time of the incident the CMS board was turned off, and had not been used for several days. Walkup's auto injury team proved that the construction company was negligent for failing to place the CMS board in an off-site designated storage area. The contractor allegeged that it was both safe and customary to leave such signboards on the side of the roadway for the duration of a project. It further defended the action on the basis that the location of the signboard did not violate the approved contract plans. A portion of the settlement was devoted to an annuity. The case settled two weeks before trial.

Vehicle Collision – $3,000,000 Settlement
Our automobile accident wrongful death attorneys obtained a settlement comprised of both cash and future annuity payments, having a present cash value of over $3,000,0000, on behalf of the survivors of a 42-year-old man who was fatally injured when his truck struck a guardrail at a rural bridge crossing. On the morning of his death, the decedent’s pickup truck drifted across the center lane of a two lane road. After correcting back into his own lane, he struck and slid along a metal guardrail, which led to a bridge abutment. As he approached the bridge, there was a gap between the guardrail and the bridge rail. At the point of the gap, the front of the truck struck the abutment, which impaled the vehicle and its driver. Our wrongful death team demonstrated that the guardrail and bridge were not built in accordance with the original plans or specifications. The recovery included the future value of the decedent’s wages, benefits and household services, as well as a sum to compensate his heirs for the loss of his care, comfort and society.

SUV Rollover -- $2,900,000 Settlement
Our vehicle stability team negotiated a settlement in the amount of $2,900,000 against the makers of the Chevrolet Blazer for the surviving husband of a woman who was killed when her Blazer overturned in a single car Northern California accident. Our client’s wife was driving to work when she inadvertently left the road surface, and in the process of correcting back onto the roadway, she overcorrected and her vehicle overturned. During the three rolls which followed, the roof collapsed and she sustained fatal head injuries. Our attorneys demonstrated that the vehicle, as designed, was not sufficiently stable to protect drivers who found themselves in foreseeable and expected emergency driving maneuvers. The settlement was paid both in cash and in annuities. Under the terms of the court approved annuities, the woman’s surviving son will be provided periodic payments to cover the cost of high school and college, and to provide security to him as a young adult.

Cross-Median Accident - $2,750,000 Settlement
Our automobile accident attorneys obtained a settlement in the amount of $2,750,000 on behalf of the surviving wife and children of a 39-year-old San Francisco businessman who died when his car was struck head-on by another vehicle that had catapulted over the center divider of northbound Highway 101. The accident occurred when a Jeep, traveling in the opposite direction, lost control and climbed up and over the median, striking our client’s husband. The settlement was contributed to both by the offending driver and the State of California. Our lawyers proved that the other driver was negligent, and that the median divider, as designed and built, was in violation of State of California design requirements.

Boating Accident – $2,500,000 Settlement
Our attorneys obtained a cash and annuity settlement having a present value of more than $2,500,000 on behalf of a 25-year-old woman who suffered major neurologic injury in a boating collision on the waters of Lake Tahoe. While riding in a boat owned and operated by her boyfriend, without running lights, the craft was struck by another boat broadside. Significant dispute existed regarding the relative fault of the two vessel operators. Before the injury, our client had been an excellent athlete, engaging in competitive snow skiing, high school softball, and other sports. Following the collision, she was comatose for over three weeks. Thereafter, she was impaired in her activities of daily living. Our team utilized specialists in rehabilitation medicine and life care planning to forecast the cost of her future care. Under the negotiated settlement, our client received a 7-figure lump sum payment, and a schedule of payments over the next 20 years to provide for her ongoing attendant care and rehabilitative needs.

Big Rig Head-On - $2,000,000 Settlement
Our truck accident team negotiated a settlement in the amount of $2,000,000 on behalf of the surviving wife and two children of a 42-year-old man who died when his automobile was struck head-on by a semi-truck on State Route 65 outside of Lincoln, California. Our clients sought recovery for future and lost earnings as well as for the loss of love, comfort and society of their husband and father. As part of the settlement, our attorneys also worked with the worker’s compensation carrier for the decedent. The case was settled after being filed in Sacramento County Superior Court.

Road Pavement Failure -$1,900,000 Neurological Injuries Settlement
The Walkup vehicular negligence team obtained a $1,900,000 settlement on behalf of a professional truck driver who was injured when his belly-dump rig fell into a steep ravine after the roadway below gave way. The settlement also resolved an outstanding worker's compensation lien and provided for future medical care. Our client's employer had been hired by a general contractor working for the U.S. Forest Service to repair a rural fire road in Fresno County. After heavy snows the year before, the road had washed out during the spring thaw. The Forest Service's contractor hired our clients employer to dump "riprap" at the washout site. The government's representative directed our client to back up his fully loaded truck, weighing over 12 tons, down a narrow un-improved dirt road that had been cut into a steep ravine adjacent to the Tuolumne River. The edge of the roadway gave way, and our clients truck rolled down into the canyon below. Trapped in the wreckage for more than eight hours, the driver suffered permanent neurological injuries to his lower back and legs which made it impossible for him to continue driving a truck. The settlement was paid by both the general contractor and the Forest Service.

Motorcycle Accident - $1,600,000 Settlement
Our attorneys represented a 26-year-old Marine who was injured in a motorcycle accident in Southern California. He sustained significant head and spinal injuries when he was struck by a vehicle. The opposing driver claimed that the motorcyclist was speeding, and not positioned in the correct place on the roadway. We were able to reconstruct the accident in such a way as to demonstrate that the motorcyclist was fault-free.

Auto vs. Truck Collision - $1,265,000 Settlement

Our automobile accident attorneys obtained a settlement in the amount of $1,265,000 on behalf of the mother, wife and children of a 38-year-old Daly City resident killed when his car was struck by defendant's truck. Our clients loved one, who worked at the San Francisco Public Library, was riding as the passenger in a car driven by a friend. The friend lost control of and rolled his vehicle, ending up in the middle of the number one and two lanes of southbound I-5. During the rollover, a dust ball was kicked into the air, obscuring the vision of oncoming drivers. All of the oncoming traffic except for the defendant truck driver slowed. The defendant's truck barreled into the car our clients husband was riding in at more than 40 miles an hour. Experts retained by our auto liability lawyers testified that the truck driver's reactions were too slow, and his vehicle speed too fast, for prevailing conditions. The defense contended that the truck driver was faced with an emergency and that his efforts to avoid the collision were as good, or better, than anyone might expect. The case was settled at a mediation just prior to trial.

Auto vs. Bicycle Collision - $750,000 settlement

Lawyers from Walkup's Bicycle Accident team recovered $750,000 on behalf of a 28-year-old financial district employee struck by a Ford F-450 truck as she rode in a designated bike lane on San Francisco's Market street. The collision took place as our client attempted to bicycle through Market Street's intersection with the Central Freeway. The defendant truck driver made an illegal right-hand turn from Market Street onto the freeway on-ramp. In the process, his truck cut the cyclist off and ran over her. She sustained injuries to her chest and lungs, leaving her with traumatic asthma. The defendant claimed that at least some of the fault lay with the dangerous nature of the intersection, which, since its opening in 2005, had proven to be the most dangerous bicycling intersection in all of San Francisco, with many times as many bicycle accidents as any other San Francisco roadway.

Pedestrian v. Taxicab - $735,000 Settlement
Our team achieved a $735,000 recovery on behalf of a 42-year-old woman struck by a DeSoto taxi cab while she was crossing The Embarcadero in a marked crosswalk in downtown San Francisco. Our attorneys hired accident reconstruction engineers who were able to prove that the cab was exceeding 50 miles per hour when it struck our client. The cab driver originally claimed that a “phantom” car ahead of it actually struck our client first, thereafter knocking her into the cab. The cab driver also claimed that the injured plaintiff was crossing against a red light. Our attorneys proved otherwise.

Rear-end Collision - $431,000 Jury Verdict
Walkup auto-accident trial lawyers obtained at $431,000 jury verdict against the Salvation Army when a Salvation Army truck rear-ended the subcompact driven by our client, a world renowned surgeon. The impact caused "whiplash" injuries to our client's neck and upper back. A mild to moderate injury for many people, our client used the injured muscles in her neck to support a large operating device that she wore on her head to guide a laser scalpel during micro-surgeries on ocular tumors. She was one of only a handful of surgeons in the entire world qualified to perform these procedures, and was forced to perform them in chronic pain because of her accident-related soft tissue neck injuries. The jury's award -- more than three times the size of the defendant's last settlement offer prior to trial -- included $350,000 for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

Rear-end Collision - $400,000 settlement
Our automobile accident liability attorneys brought suit on behalf of a 70-year-old woman who suffered neck injuries in a low-speed rear end collision and resolved the case for $400,000 prior to trial. Our client had a history of neck and back problems prior to the accident and was forced to undergo a three-level cervical fusion two months after the accident. The driver of the car that hit her settled for his policy limits of $100,000. Walkup lawyers then pursued a claim against our client's own insurance carrier under the underinsured motorist provisions of her policy. The insurer argued that our client's need for the neck surgery was caused by her pre-existing degenerative spine disease and was unrelated to the accident. The insurer ultimately agreed to pay an additional $300,000 after we presented an analysis of the medical evidence demonstrating that the accident was a substantial factor in causing the client's need for surgery.